Konoha's Orange Dragon
by Historiarum Scriptor
Summary: Naruto's sister is the container of the Kyuubi, and he will do anything to protect her. To do this, he'll need all the help he can get from his friends, teachers, and even dragons. Non yaoi. No pairings yet.
1. Homecoming

**AN: Well, this will be my first Naruto fanfic, I hope you all like it.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto (duh), and if I did you then Kaguya would never have existed.**

* * *

 **Chapter 1: Homecoming**

Kotetsu sat as he always did, in the guardhouse for the front gate of Konoha. He yawned and looked over to his partner, Izumo. "Hey, how many years have we been on guard duty? Shouldn't some other grunt have replaced us by now?"

Izumo leaned back in his chair and put his feet up. "Why would we want to be replaced? I like this job. Low-stress, pays well, and we hear all the village gossip. It's perfect!"

Kotetsu began to grumble to his partner about "missing out on missions" and "reaching his peak" when a young blonde walked through the gate. "Hey kid!" Kotetsu hollered, catching the boy's attention. The kid ambled over to the guardhouse with a small smile on his face.

"What's a boy like you doing in this village without parents to accompany you?" asked Izumo as the pair of chunins looked him up and down. The blonde wore a dark grey jacket over a black shirt, and had a pair of bright orange shorts above dark grey sandals. He also had a short sword strapped to his back.

"I'm actually a Leaf citizen," replied the blonde as he rummaged through his travel bags. "I know I packed the stupid thing… where is it…" the boy murmured. He finally found what he was looking for and pulled out a scroll and handed it to the guards.

Kotetsu took the scroll and looked it over. It was a proof of citizenship with the Hokage's seal on it. "Uzumaki Naruto eh? Well kid, don't cause too much trouble in the village, alright? And welcome back."

Naruto nodded with a grin on his face and began to walk once more into the village. Izumo scrunched up his face in thought. _"Uzumaki… I've heard that name before…"_ A look of realization appeared on the man's face.

"Hey! Kotetsu! What other kid do we know in the village named Uzumaki?" Kotetsu hummed and put his chin in his hand.

"Well, the only other one I can think of would be that Kotomi kid…" he mused. "Wait, you don't think that they're related, do you?"

"I don't know, but Uzumaki isn't a very common name now is it?"

The two guards stared at the back of Naruto Uzumaki as he walked into the village, each busy with their own thoughts.

* * *

Kotomi Uzumaki ran down the side streets of Konoha. The sun was just setting, causing the shadows to lengthen around her. She had a bright red apple in her left hand, which she had stolen. She had been hungry, and none of the vendors would let her buy food, saying that they were "all out" or "you couldn't afford it". So, she had stolen the apple from some guy's cart, and got caught. That's when people had gathered around shouting at her. She had refused to give the apple back and ran away. They followed her.

Kotomi took a sharp left into another side alley, only to find a dead end awaiting her. She turned around, hoping that she could get out before the villagers came, but her hope died immediately as she saw a large group of people at the entrance of the alleyway.

Kotomi backed up slowly, her eyes darting around in the hopes of finding some way to escape. The villagers had paused in front of her, seeming unsure as to what to do now that they had caught their prey.

Then a man walked forward, waving a brick threateningly at her. "You damn thieving monster! You're a curse on this village! It's about time someone got rid of you like the monster you are!"

The people in the crowd began to murmur, then yell in agreement. "Monster!" "Demon!"

Tears spilled down the young girl's face as she cried out, "I'm not a monster!"

"You little…" The man raised the brick and Kotomi cowered, waiting for the inevitable blow to come, but looked up in surprise at the man's cry of pain. Kotomi looked up to see a young boy holding a bloody sword staring down at the man with cold blue eyes. She shivered as she looked at them.

On the ground the man was holding the backs of his thighs where they had been cut. "If you ever touch her again, I'll kill you." The icy words left the boy's mouth as he stared in anger at the man. He then turned around to face the rest of the crowd. "And that goes for all of you as well."

The crowd was completely silent at this. If this had been any normal kid, they would have scoffed at his words. But looking into his eyes, they knew that he wouldn't hesitate to follow through.

As the crowd dispersed, Naruto Uzumaki picked up his sister, and took her home.

* * *

A loud bang announced the entrance of Naruto Uzumaki into the Hokage's office as the door slammed against the wall. Immediately, several ANBU shinobi appeared in front of the Hokage's desk, ready to protect their leader with their lives. Naruto paid them no mind as he looked at the stunned face of Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Sandaime Hokage of Konoha.

"Hey, Jiji, you have a lot of explaining to do."

"Naruto… how are you…"

A secretary ran in after Naruto, panting with her hands on her knees. "I'm sorry Hokage-sama, I tried to stop him but…" Her voice trailed off as she noticed the host of ANBU in front of her.

Sarutobi merely waved his hand dismissively towards his secretary and guards. "You may all go, except for you Kakashi." The ANBU quickly shunshined out of the office, leaving only the Hokage, Naruto, and an ANBU member with a dog mask.

Naruto glared at the two men in front of him, not caring about how important they were, nor how powerful. Sarutobi began again, "How are you…" But was cut off by Naruto.

"You promised me."

Sarutobi was surprised by the amount of killing intent that was leaking out of the young boy in front of him. Kakashi was also surprised, but removed his mask and also opened his mouth to speak, but once again Naruto's voice cut through the room.

"You told me that you would take care of her. You said that she would be safe while I was gone. But when I come back, I find her being chased by a fucking mob." Naruto snarled.

The Hokage's eyes showed his shame. He remembered when he had sent the blonde, eight years ago, to go train with Kakashi to keep him safe. Naruto hadn't wanted to go, as the last wish of his father was for him to protect his sister, but Sarutobi had told him that he would keep her safe.

"And to make matters worse," Naruto continued, "I take her to her home to discover that she's been living by herself for the past year. What kind of person makes a little girl live by herself? Why didn't you take her in?" Naruto turned to Kakashi. "Or you? Why didn't you look after my sister?"

The two men looked at each other, both with expressions of guilt on their face. "Naruto, the council wouldn't allow anyone to take her in. They believed that whoever took her in would try to influence her." Kakashi explained, but this was too much for Naruto.

"The council!" Naruto roared. "I don't give a shit about the council! You promised," Naruto pointed at the Sandaime, "To take care of her. And you broke that promise!" He took a deep breath.

"If you'll excuse me, I'm going to go look after my sister. I'll be taking care of her from now on," He said in a cold voice. Naruto turned and started to walk out of the office, but the Hokage spoke up.

"Wait! Naruto, how are you alive? We thought that you were dead." Naruto looked over his shoulder at the two men.

"I'll tell you later, Old Man. If I stay here any longer, I'll do something stupid."

As Naruto walked down the street towards Kotomi's apartment, Kakashi appeared in a shunshin behind him. "Naruto."

He turned and looked at his silver haired sensei. "What do you want?'

Kakashi paused, seeming to consider his words before speaking. "I wanted to say that I'm sorry. For not taking care of your sister, and for not looking harder for you after you disappeared." The man bowed his head towards the boy. Naruto sighed.

"I don't blame you as much as I blame the Hokage, Nii-sama" Kakashi smiled at the name. Naruto, as a young child, had heard his father refer to Kakashi as "like a son to me", and from then on had referred to Kakashi as his brother.

"I know that you were probably too busy with missions to take proper care of my sister. And I also owe you an apology for not contacting you while I was missing." He smiled sadly at Kakashi. The older ANBU smiled back.

"We definitely have a lot of catching up to do, but I suppose that it can wait. See you later, Naruto." Kakashi disappeared in a Shunshin, leaving the young blonde to continue to walk home by himself.

* * *

Naruto opened the door to the apartment slowly, not wishing to startle his younger sister. The apartment was small, comprised of a poorly stocked kitchen, a modest dining/living room with a table and chairs, and one small bedroom that was barely big enough for a bed.

Kotomi sat on one of the chairs in the dining room, her knees pulled up to her chin. Her violet eyes met Naruto's blue ones as he came in.

"Hey Kotomi-chan. What are you still doing up?"

Kotomi mumbled something about "not being tired" into her knees. She lifted her head slightly as Naruto sat down across from her with a sigh.

"Are you really my brother? Jiji said that you were dead." Kotomi stated bluntly.

Her brother just smiled sadly. "Jiji was wrong. He only thought that I was dead because they couldn't find me. I needed to go train by myself to become stronger."

"Why did you leave?" Kotomi asked tearfully. "Why didn't you stay and look after me? Why does everyone abandon me?"

Naruto felt his heart break. Once again he felt the need to go and beat some sense into that old bastard's head. Not that he actually could. As strong as he was for his age, he knew that Sarutobi wasn't called the "God of Shinobi" for nothing. It would take years of rigorous training before he could match the old man as he was now, much less the Sandaime in his prime.

"I had to leave to get strong Kotomi. So that I could protect you. The old man promised me that he'd look after you in my stead, but clearly he hasn't followed through on that promise." Naruto frowned.

"But why do I need protection? Why do I need to be looked after? Why does everyone hate me?" Her voice rose with each question, and the last one came out as a shout. Naruto flinched back at the anger in her voice.

"The villagers only hate you because they're fools. And you need to be protected because you're my sister, and it's my job to protect you." Naruto hated lying to her, but he promised himself that he would tell her eventually. Besides, a young girl like her shouldn't have to deal with that kind of responsibility until it was absolutely necessary.

"But it's okay now, Kotomi, because I'm here and I'll always look out for you."

"Promise?"

"Promise."

Naruto picked up his sister for the second time that night and tucked her into bed. As he turned to leave, Kotomi spoke up in a small voice.

"Hey… nii-san…" The word was unfamiliar to her, and she spoke it hesitantly. "It's okay if the village doesn't like me now. One day, I'll be strong and protect the whole village. Then they'll acknowledge me."

The young blonde smiled at his sister's ambition. "I believe in you completely Kotomi. You're already one of the strongest people I know." Naruto turned to leave, but was once again interrupted by his sibling's voice.

"You can sleep here… you know… if you want…" Her voice trailed off into low mumbles, but Naruto smiled and laid down on the floor next to Kotomi's bed. Her hand trailed off the side and Naruto took it in his own. They both fell quickly into dreamless sleep.

* * *

 _Flashback_ / _Four Years Ago_

 _Itachi Uchiha moved quickly across the rooftops of Konoha, intent on leaving as quickly as possible. He knew that Danzo had promised him time to escape, but he wouldn't be surprised if the man decided to have him killed anyways._

 _As Itachi leapt onto the roof of an apartment complex, he noticed the presence of a young girl near him. Looking over to the corner of the roof, he prepared to Shunshin away quickly before he saw who it was._

 _Kotomi Uzumaki. The young red haired girl with whiskers on her cheeks sat on the roof, quietly crying into her hands. He knew that he should just keep moving, but his heart still felt compassion even after all he had done. Especially after all he had done._

 _Itachi approached the girl, who looked up in surprise. "Hello. What's your name?" He asked kindly._

" _Um… I'm Kotomi. W-who are you?"_

 _Itachi smiled. "My name is Itachi." He crouched down in front of the young girl and violet eyes met black. "Can you tell me what's wrong?"_

 _Kotomi hiccupped as she tried to get the words out. "I-it's just that… p-people are always so m-m-mean to me, and I… I don't know w-why." She sniffled as her tears slowed their descent._

 _Itachi knew what she was, and had seen the way that the villagers and even other shinobi would treat her. It made him clench his hands in anger. He had never been able to do anything about it before though. The great "Uchiha prodigy" could never be seen helping the Demon of Konoha. It was just another example of the hatred that had begun to spread through Konoha like a disease. He had to kill his own clan to fight against that hatred, but in doing so, had started the cycle again. He hoped that this time, the anger would go towards him instead of the village he so loved._

 _Still, with this girl, he thought that maybe he had a chance to do some penance for his sins. Maybe God was giving him a chance to leave some good in this world instead of more hatred._

" _People can be cruel Kotomi. They will lash out because of the hatred in their hearts, and will take their anger out on the weak, because they themselves are weak. That is why you must become strong. Become strong and protect those who hurt you. Then you'll prove them wrong, and they will acknowledge you." A bright light seemed to glow in Kotomi's eyes as she heard those words, almost like a fire._

' _Hmm. Maybe the Will of Fire is more real than I thought.' Itachi tapped Kotomi's forehead with two fingers._

" _Remember Kotomi. Never give in to hatred. And please, don't talk about this conversation ever again. It is of the upmost importance that this meeting remains our secret. Okay?" Itachi stood up and gave the girl one last smile as she nodded before leaping off the roof of the apartment and onto another building. Kotomi watched the figure disappear into the night._

 _As Itachi made his way to the gates, he began to think. 'Maybe there is one more way for me to do penance. To help that girl.' He had to meet Madara soon, but he knew that the stop would be roughly on the way._

 _He knew where the boy was thanks to his time as an ANBU, where he would occasionally go to guard the boy. He was staying in a small cottage a couple hours away._

 _As Itachi left the village and leapt into the trees, he heard shouts and sirens in Konoha. He had left just in time._

 _After travelling for a while, Itachi found what he was looking for. A single ANBU stood facing away from him and scanning his surroundings. Itachi moved quickly and attacked the man with a kunai in his hand while activating his sharingan._

 _The man was an ANBU, however, and would not be snuck up on so easily. He turned around quickly upon noticing Itachi's presence, but immediately fell into a genjutsu when he saw a pair of crimson eyes._

 _Itachi moved past him and saw the small cottage where the boy was staying. He knew that Kakashi was with the boy, and that it would not be easy to sneak past him. Just as he was devising a plan, Kakashi stepped out of the cottage and swiftly moved in the direction of Konoha._

' _News certainly travels fast.' Itachi thought as he jumped down from his perch in the trees and headed towards the cottage._

 _He approached the door and pushed it open with a creak, only to be met with a kunai being swung towards his face. Itachi quickly grabbed the wrist holding it, but his opponent immediately jumped and sent a fierce kick towards his head. Itachi grabbed this attack with his other hand and bodily threw his attacker away from him and into the cottage._

 _His adversary, who revealed himself to be an eight year old boy, turned what should have been a heavy landing into a controlled roll before coming up on one knee. His hand was already in a pouch by his waist, and he quickly threw several shuriken towards Itachi._

 _However, Itachi disappeared into several crows, only to appear behind the young blonde. "I see Kakashi has taught you well, though you appear to rely more on instinct than actual skill."_

 _Naruto swore as he spun around and leapt away from his opponent before freezing at the sight of two blood red orbs. "You're an Uchiha."_

 _Itachi nodded at the blonde's statement. "Yes, my name is Itachi and we have much to discuss. Now come sit down." The man turned and sat on one of the cushions surrounding the low table in the room._

 _Naruto began to think rapidly. He was an Uchiha, which meant that he was from Konoha. That didn't necessarily mean that he wasn't his enemy, but he knew that the man had him severely outclassed to a ridiculous extent. The Uchiha could kill him whenever he wanted, and Naruto had already looked in the man's eyes, which meant that he was probably already under genjutsu._

 _Naruto knew of the prodigy, of course, and decided that if he hadn't been kidnapped, killed, or knocked out by now, then he probably wouldn't be._

 _Naruto moved forward and sat across from Itachi. "Naruto, you were friends with Sasuke, correct?"_

 _The boy paused for a moment before nodding, surprised at the question. He and Sasuke, though fairly unlike each other in terms of personality, had bonded anyways. Sasuke had been quiet and shy, whereas he had been loud and cheerful. But they had both realized that they were trying to get out of the shadows of those they admired. For Sasuke, he had wanted to escape Itachi's shadow, and Naruto wanted to escape his father's._

 _Itachi seemed to consider his words carefully before speaking. "I spoke to your sister tonight, Naruto."_

 _The boy paled then immediately panicked. "Kotomi? Is she alright? Is she hurt? I should head ba-"_

 _While beginning to stand up, his ramblings were interrupted by Itachi, who poked his forehead sharply with two fingers causing the blonde to sit back down._

" _Hey! What'd yah do that for?" Naruto asked hotly while rubbing his forehead._

" _Your sister is fine. We discussed several things and she decided that she would become strong enough to protect others." He looked the young boy in the eye who had begun to grin._

 _Itachi continued. "If she does this, she will become well known in the shinobi world. I believe that you already know that she is a jinchuuriki?" Naruto nodded._

" _Well then you must also become strong to protect her. Listen carefully Naruto, because this is incredibly important." The boy sat up a little straighter as he prepared to hear the man out._

" _There is a group forming of S-class shinobi called the Akatsuki. They are incredibly powerful, and very dangerous. They are disguising themselves as mercenaries, but their true goal is to collect the bijuu. To do this, they are going to capture jinchuuriki and rip their bijuu from them, which will kill them. Soon enough they will come after your sister, and you must be strong enough to protect her. You have several years before they come, and you must use that time to train."_

 _A bestial snarl came from Naruto, and his face twisted with anger. "If they touch her, I'll kill them."_

 _Itachi looked him in the eye. "You? As you are right now, you would be killed before throwing a single punch against one of them. You are weak. Become strong."_

 _The man turned and looked out the window towards the East. A light glow on the horizon indicated the coming of dawn._

" _Tonight, I murdered every member of my clan, except for my brother." Naruto's mouth dropped open in disbelief._

" _The Uchiha were planning a coup to take over Konoha. To protect the village, I slaughtered them." Itachi turned to once again face the young boy. "What will you do to protect your sister? Will you be able to kill innocents, to betray those you love to protect her?"_

 _Naruto glared at him. "I won't have to. I'll make sure to protect her without needing to do any of those things."_

 _Itachi smiled sadly. "You're too naïve Naruto." The look on the boy's face was one of pure determination, his lips curled back in a snarl. 'Maybe I can give the boy one more gift. Perhaps he can use it.'_

 _The man took a storage scroll out of one of his pockets and unrolled it on the ground. Biting his finger, he smeared the blood across the end of the scroll, and in a cloud of smoke five more scrolls appeared. These scrolls contained information from the Uchiha clan library that Sasuke wouldn't need, and he didn't want Danzo to get his hands on them._

 _One of the scrolls contained a special summoning contract. A long time ago, the Uchiha used to be a lot less cold. Like their Senju rivals, they would wear their hearts on their sleeves. Back in those times, the clan had a good relationship with the special summons. However, the clan and the summons had had a falling out, and the Uchiha were forbidden from ever summoning their ex-companions. However, because of the Uchiha's stubbornness and pride, they had hidden the contract so that no one else could ever use it._

 _Itachi picked up the scroll and handed it to Naruto. "What's this?"_

" _A summoning contract." Itachi replied as he repacked the storage scroll._

" _What does it summon?"_

 _A small smile spread over Itachi's face as he looked at the young blonde._

" _Dragons."_

* * *

Present/Hokage's Office

"Dragons?"

"Yep."

"And they've been training you for four years?"

"Well, I don't know about 'training'. It was more like general guidance on how to not die."

Both Kakashi and the Hokage looked at the young boy with incredulity. "But… a dragon contract doesn't exist. Does it?" Kakashi looked at the Hokage.

"Not that I've heard of." Hiruzen replied. "And contracts generally don't just appear to young kids."

Naruto sighed. It would have been nice for them to just believe him, but he had known that they wouldn't. It was a pretty outlandish story.

"Allow me to demonstrate." Naruto bit his finger to draw blood and slammed his hand on the floor. One cloud of smoke later, and there appeared a small wyvern. It was about a foot tall with two clawed hind legs and wings that stretched out from its shoulders.

"Jiji, Nii-sama, meet Netsu." The small dragon waved one of its wings.

"Hey there. What's up?"

Both men's jaws dropped.

Netsu looked at his master with a grin. "I think I broke them. Not surprising considering how awesome I am though." Naruto rolled his eyes.

"Well Netsu, you're good to go." The grin on the dragon's face was replaced with a pout.

"That was boring. Bye Naruto-sama." The wyvern disappeared once again in a puff of smoke. The two men finally seemed to regain their senses.

"Okay Naruto, I see that you were indeed with the dragons. However, I don't understand why you didn't send us a message or something to let us know that you were okay. Besides that, what kind of training did you undergo?"

Naruto rubbed his chin in thought. "Well, I wasn't actually allowed to contact you. I was told that I couldn't contact anyone from my past if I wished to train with them. Something about "preserving secrecy". As for the training… well originally they refused to. But I kept on bothering them, so they told me to survive in some city for six months with nothing but the clothes on my back. I think that they thought that I would die there, 'cause they seemed pretty shocked when I showed up again."

The two men frowned at the training. To make a child survive as a homeless orphan in a city seemed incredibly dangerous.

"After that they took me to the Dragon Sage, who said that I would be trained. The first couple of months were spent making me survive in the wilderness while being hunted. If I got caught, I got beat up pretty bad. Then they'd spend a day or two teaching me exercises to strengthen myself or enhance my chakra control before sending me off again. After six months of that, they started me in kenjutsu, taijutsu, and weapons training. Those dragons are surprisingly good at using swords."

Kakashi was still looking at Naruto like he had grown an extra head, but the Hokage seemed to have decided that nothing else would surprise him about this boy. He simply shook his head.

"What did you do for the next two years?" Hiruzen asked.

"Well, in the third year I started learning history and the ninja code for Konoha. I have no idea how, but some of the dragons got a hold on some of the academy books and gave them to me to read. I continued to work on all the other stuff as well. In the third year, I improved my chakra control, learned some basic jutsu, a couple of elemental ninjutsu, and worked on my elemental affinity."

Kakashi looked even more surprised, if that was possible. "You've already started on elemental affinity?"

Naruto looked embarrassed, and began to rub the back of his head. "Well, I haven't gotten very far with it. I'm still working on cutting the leaf or burning it with chakra. I can usually cut it half way or produce a little bit of smoke, but that's about it. Besides, I only know two elemental jutsu."

The Hokage pulled out his pipe, packed some tobacco in it, and used a seal-less jutsu to light it. He took a few puffs before taking it out of his mouth.

"Well, Naruto, if your abilities are as well developed as you say, which I'm sure they are, then we will have no problem putting you into our graduating class at the academy." Hiruzen stated.

Naruto gaped. "I have to go to school?" He shouted, aghast.

"Well, if you truly want to be a Konoha shinobi, then yes."

The young boy began to panic. "But… um… if I'm at school, then how will I look after Kotomi during the day?"

The Hokage grinned wickedly. "Don't worry about that. She is also attending the academy, though is currently in a younger class. Besides, I have ANBU monitoring her at all times."

The panicked, comical expression disappeared from Naruto's face, and was replaced by a look of doubt and anger. "If you have ANBU watching my sister at all times, then how come she got chased by a mob and almost killed. Shouldn't her guards have intervened?"

Hiruzen sighed. "Unfortunately, there was a false alarm concerning the village's proximity seals. When the ANBU operative felt his seal signal him, he left to go and discover the disturbance." Naruto frowned at this, clearly not impressed with the excuse. "Don't worry though. The ANBU guarding your sister have since been informed that they are not to leave their duties no matter what. Even if I was being attacked, they would continue to watch over your sister."

A head of spiky yellow hair nodded in appreciation. "Thanks Jiji. By the way, I know that it's necessary to hide the truth from Kotomi about our parents and the Kyuubi. However, I will be telling her the truth as soon as she becomes a genin. If she's mature enough to be a ninja, then she's mature enough to be trusted with her heritage."

The Hokage nodded and began to hand Naruto the forms that he would need to fill out to approve his enrollment in the shinobi academy. After the energetic boy left, Hiruzen turned his gaze to Kakashi, who still appeared to be in shock.

The Hokage sighed, and snapped his fingers in Kakashi's face. The man jumped, then proceeded to rub the back of his head in embarrassment. "Eh… sorry Hokage-sama… that was just a lot to take in."

"It's fine. Now, what was it that you wanted to talk to me about?"

Kakashi straightened up, a professional look overtaking his usual demeanor of boredom and laziness. "I wish to resign as an ANBU, Hokage-sama."

Hiruzen, though saddened, was not particularly surprised by this statement. Even though the silver-haired ANBU captain was fairly young, he had completed more missions and had a better record than any other ANBU. People often said that the man was worth ten of his peers. They were right.

But a large reason for Kakashi's giant mission count was the absurd amount of suicide missions that he would take when depressed. He had fallen back into this habit after learning of the disappearance of Naruto, who he thought of as a little brother to him. Kakashi now felt incredibly guilty, for in running from his pain, he had completely ignored the strife of young Kotomi. Now the man wished to rectify his mistakes by becoming a jounin, which would give him more time to spend with both the red haired girl and Naruto.

"Very well," the Hokage sighed. "Kakashi Hatake, your resignation as an ANBU operative is accepted, and you will be reinstated as a jounin immediately."

The man known as the Copy-Ninja allowed himself a small smile.

* * *

Naruto had always loved to learn. Whether it was sitting down with his father as he talked about the going-ons of Konoha, or watching his mother draw markings on scrolls while explaining what each one meant. He had even enjoyed his torturous training with the dragons to an extent. However, the idea of having to sit still in a classroom and listen to some teacher whom he'd never met rubbed him the wrong way. And so, Naruto walked into his first day at the academy with all the enthusiasm of a man approaching a noose.

The only thing that cheered him up was that he and Kotomi had been able to walk to school together. He had even made both of them sandwiches for lunch. He had wanted to bring ramen, but he hadn't been able to find anything to store it in.

As Naruto walked into his assigned classroom, the first thing he noticed was a gaggle of young girls chatting animatedly. However, his attention was drawn to the person who they had surrounded. Naruto quickly leapt over the group of kunoichi and landed in a crouch on the desk of Sasuke Uchiha. Blue eyes met onyx, and a wide grin stretched over his face.

"Teme."

"Dobe."

The rest of the class was surprised by the interaction, but even more surprising was the small smirk that appeared the Uchiha's face. Normally, this wouldn't have been very noticeable. But because Sasuke almost never showed any expression besides a scowl, the small grin seemed to be a wide smile to those looking on.

The nickname 'dobe' had been granted to Naruto by Sasuke during their childhood, and meant 'dead last'. As shy as Sasuke used to be, he also had a competitive streak a mile wide. As such, he and Naruto were constantly competing against each other, particularly in races. However, the young blonde had terrible luck, and often found himself in troublesome situations such as having pots fall on him from window sills, or getting food poisoning. Due to this, Naruto almost always lost, so Sasuke teasingly called him 'dobe'. In retaliation, Naruto called Sasuke 'teme'.

A pink haired kunoichi with a noticeably large forehead spoke up, interrupting the pair who were staring at each other and seemed to have forgotten about her. "Hey! Who are you and how do you know my Sasuke-kun?"

Naruto looked at her, then back at Sasuke. "'My Sasuke'? Well teme, looks like you've already got yourself a fan club! Lucky bastard." The Uchiha merely rolled his eyes and grunted at the blonde's antics.

Naruto turned back to the girl and smiled brightly while sticking out his hand. "Hi! My name is Naruto Uzumaki. What's your name?" The young Uchiha raised an eyebrow at his childhood friend's introduction, but said nothing.

The pink girl seemed taken aback at the boy's friendly attitude. "Um… My name is Sakura Haruno." She took his hand cautiously and he shook hers with enthusiasm. Then, their academy instructor entered the room. Seeing the young blonde, he headed towards him, while the rest of the students took their seats.

"So," the instructor started. "You must be the new student who will be joining us. My name is Umino Iruka, and I am a chuunin instructor who teaches this class. I also have an assistant named Mizuki who isn't here today. Why don't you come and introduce yourself to the class." Iruka gestured to the front of the classroom.

Naruto stepped forwards and turned to face his new classmates. "I'm Naruto Uzumaki. It's a pleasure to meet you." Naruto, instead of bowing, simply waved at the class with a big goofy grin on his face.

Iruka frowned as the boy. _'So that's Kotomi's brother.'_ Iruka had taught her class in previous years, but had been moved to this class when their previous instructor had retired. At first, the man had found it hard to overcome his distrust of the young girl due to the Kyuubi killing his parents, but after talking with the Hokage about it, had decided to approach her.

After talking with Kotomi, it was impossible not to like her. She was kind and thoughtful. After taking her out to ramen, Iruka had realized that no girl so nice could possibly be a demon.

The instructor shook his head of his thoughts. He had a class to teach. Naruto groaned as Iruka began to lecture.

* * *

Naruto faced off against his opponent, Sasuke Uchiha. It had taken a couple of days, but the two were finally paired off together for spars. The young blonde had learned the most basic katas of 'The Dragon of the West' fighting style, but had been unable to practice the more advanced ones due to his size. He knew that his taijutsu was lacking, as the basic katas were incredibly simple, so he would be at a disadvantage to the Uchiha, who had mastered the academy taijutsu and probably knew some Uchiha taijutsu to complement…

Naruto's thoughts were cut off by a shouted word: "Hajime!"

The two boys ran at each other. Sasuke attacked first, sending a punch with his left hand. Naruto caught it easily and pulled his opponent past him while sticking his foot out, hoping to trip his opponent. Sasuke saw it coming, and instead of tripping, jumped up and kicked off of Naruto's thigh, causing the blonde to stumble and creating space.

Naruto recovered quickly and settled into his stance. His feet were slightly more than shoulder length apart with his left foot forward, and knees slightly bent. His arms mirrored his feet with his left hand forward, and his palms were open, facing his opponent while his fingers were together and pointed straight up.

Sasuke moved in again, testing Naruto's defenses with swift jabs. Naruto batted away the punches and used an opening to strike with an open hand to the chest. He quickly followed up with a low kick, but his opponent blocked it with his own leg before lashing out with his fist, striking Naruto's shoulder. The two separated momentarily, but then rushed in again.

This time, they both began in earnest. Punches and kicks flew in a maelstrom of blows. Naruto's defense was excellent, but his counters weren't strong enough to take advantage of the openings he made. Eventually, Sasuke stepped into Naruto's guard, hoping to end the stalemate with grappling.

The two boy's both tried multiple times to grab each other, but each time one got a hold of a wrist, shoulder, or piece of clothing, they quickly had their grips broken.

Naruto decided to use his footwork instead to get an advantage. He placed his right foot behind Sasuke's left foot and shoved with both hands, causing the dark haired boy to lose his balance. However, Sasuke reacted quickly grabbing Naruto's left wrist and pulled the blonde over his leg which he stuck out in his fall.

Both students fell to the ground and rolled away from each other. They got to their feet and swiftly re-engaged each other once again. Eventually, Naruto saw an opening and threw a haymaker towards Sasuke's face. The Uchiha saw the same opening in Naruto's own defense and also threw a punch towards his opponents face.

Iruka stepped forward as the two boys tumbled away from each other. "That's it. The result of this match is a draw." He declared. "Now make the unison sign."

They did as they were told before going to join their peers, who were impressed by the show of skill.

"Your defense is annoying, dobe."

"Well your punches hurt like a bitch, teme."

The blonde and dark haired boy walked side by side as the class began to move back to the academy doors, bickering with one another. As they approached the academy, a younger class began to come out to take their turn on the training field. From the group of younger students, a red blur charged out and slammed into Naruto.

"Nii-san!"

Naruto looked down at the little girl who had barreled into him. "Hey Kotomi-chan. What's up?"

The rest of the class appeared a little shocked at the revelation of the blonde having a little sister. Kotomi looked up and smiled at her brother, but her gaze was drawn away by a certain Uchiha who was standing next to her brother.

"Who's that?" Kotomi asked her older sibling.

"Sasuke? Well, he's my friend." A wild glint appeared in Naruto's eyes. "Actually, he's like a brother to me, which would make him your older brother as well."

The red haired girl immediately wrapped the moody boy in a hug. "So you're my Nii-san too? Yay!"

Sasuke glared at his 'brother' while the class tried to stifle their laughter at the Uchiha's attempts to awkwardly hug the young Uzumaki while patting her head. Naruto just grinned back at him.

* * *

After class, the two boys sat on a pier, overlooking a small lake.

"You've grown a lot more moody since I've been gone, teme."

"Hn."

Naruto turned to look at his friend seriously. "I know what happened to your clan Sasuke, and I know who did it. The question is, what are you going to do in the future?"

A dark look overcame Sasuke's face. "I'm going to kill him."

Naruto just nodded at the statement. He had been expecting it. "Well then, I believe that we can help each other out."

"How?" Sasuke asked curiously.

"Listen up, teme. What I'm about to tell you is a secret. I need you to promise me not to tell anyone. Okay?" The young blonde held out his pinky towards the other boy, who grasped it with his own pinky, a bemused expression on his face.

"Well, as you know, several years ago the Kyuubi attacked Konoha, and was killed by the Yondaime Hokage."

"So?" Sasuke asked, unsure as to where Naruto was going with this story.

"That, my friend, is complete bullshit. Bijuu can't be killed. But they can be sealed away, and are often sealed into human sacrifices in the hopes of the sacrifice being able to control and use their demonic chakra."

The young Uchiha's dark eyes widened in realization. "Your sister."

"Yep. As you know, my dad was the Fourth Hokage. He decided that he couldn't ask someone to do what he could not, so he used his own daughter to seal the damn Kyuubi into her with my mother's help, killing them in the process. His last wish was for me to protect my sister and for her to be viewed as a hero. However, the Sandaime decided to hide the heritage of my sister and I in the hopes of protecting us from our father's enemies. This caused people to only view my sister as the demon she contains, instead of as the heroic daughter of the Hokage."

Sasuke nodded along to all of this. He had known Naruto's parents, and had been curious as to his friend's change of last name. "How is this relevant to my goal?"

"I'm getting there, you impatient bastard." Naruto huffed. "There just so happens to be a dangerous group of S-ranked criminals called Akatsuki, and their main objective is to capture all the bijuu."

Sasuke opened his mouth to once again ask how this concerned him when Naruto put up his hand.

"Itachi Uchiha is a member of this group."

A pair of onyx eyes narrowed at this. "I see."

Naruto continued, "I want you to help me protect my sister from the Akatsuki, and in return I'll help you find your brother so that you can kill him."

The dark haired boy put his hand to his chin and began to consider the offer. If what Naruto said was true, then his brother would eventually come after Kotomi. And if he was near Kotomi, then he would have the perfect opportunity to kill his brother. "Very well, I accept your offer."

Naruto grinned. "Great! Now all we have to do is train our asses off. Come on, I have some things I want to show you."

The two boys walked off the pier together, each prepared to do whatever they must to accomplish their goals.

* * *

 **AN: Hi, it's me again. Just a quick note on Naruto's personality and goals. First off, he's definitely a lot more practical, intelligent, and ruthless due to his training with dragons. He also doesn't give two shits about being Hokage, he just wants to protect his sister. Also, Naruto will be a bit of a prodigy in this fic, but let's face it, Naruto mastered Shadow Clones in a single night and perfected his wind element and combined it with the Rasengan in a ridiculously short amount of time. In my books, he's already a prodigy considering how quickly he learns. Hopefully you all enjoyed this first chapter. Bye!**


	2. Training and Traitors

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. I do, however, own a Gameboy Color. Yeah, I'm cool.**

 **A/N: Sorry that its a bit late. I may or may not have gotten caught up in reading another fanfic. Oops. If anyone's interested, it's called What it takes to be Hokage by Solara Myles. No spoilers, but I really do love the plot idea. Ingenious really. Now, how do I get the author to come up with a plot for this story... **

* * *

**Chapter 2: Training and Traitors**

Sasuke grit his teeth as he tried to fend off his opponent's vicious slashes with his chokuto. The blows rained down on his guard, one after another, with incredible speed and precision. Eventually, Sasuke's grip weakened as he tried to block a wide swing, and his sword was torn from his hands. The dark eyed boy felt cold steel press against his neck.

Naruto grinned slightly at his opponent as he withdrew his kodachi from the Uchiha's neck. "You're guard is pointless if you never get a chance to counter teme. You're not a brick wall that I can simply beat on until I'm blue in the face. Use your feet more, and try to reinforce your blocks by supporting the back or flat side of the blade with your other hand. Now, let's go again."

Sasuke grumbled as he went to pick up his sword, but knew better than to outright protest. As goofy and fun-loving as the blonde was, Naruto was practically a slave driver when it came to training.

The boy sighed as he considered his training over the past couple of months. He had thought that he had found an equal. A rival. How wrong he had been.

After their only taijutsu spar, Sasuke had thought that they would be roughly similar in terms of strength. His assumptions were wrong. It turned out that, due to Naruto's incomplete training, that his taijutsu was weak in comparison to his other abilities. At least, when Naruto only used his style that is. When Naruto fought without a style, he became much more capable.

The problem was his unpredictability and his ability to think of moves while on the fly. Sasuke was a skilled tactician when it came to fighting, but his plans were constantly interrupted by unorthodox moves. Anything from dirt in the eye to a fake gasp and point, Naruto had done it all, and then some. He had even undone his sandal straps and kicked them towards Sasuke to provide a suitable distraction.

But despite Naruto's unpredictability, Sasuke had managed to unlock his sharingan during one of the duo's many spars. This had allowed him to keep up with the blonde, and even match him in taijutsu. Though when it came to the other shinobi arts, Naruto had him beat.

Apparently, being chased through the woods by dragons gave people incredible sensory abilities, taught them to hide their presence almost as well as an ANBU, and forced them to come up with ridiculously clever traps.

And when it came to ninjutsu, Naruto already knew two elemental jutsu before the two had started training, and had recently picked up two more. The first was another wind jutsu that shot wind bullets out of his mouth. The second was also an oral jutsu, the grand fireball jutsu that Sasuke had taught him.

In return, Naruto had given him a chakra paper, with which Sasuke had learned of his second nature affinity, lightning. The blonde had also taught his friend various chakra control exercises so that the Uchiha could increase his jutsu efficiency.

The only other area in which Naruto could be considered 'weak' was genjutsu. This was only because he had yet to master any genjutsu. He was able to cast them off, though. In fact, he had yet to be put under a genjutsu that lasted longer than a second. Apparently, dragons had quite powerful paralysis genjutsu, similar to snakes hypnotizing their prey, and it had been used on him multiple times.

While Naruto was certainly skilled, many might have begun to call him a prodigy. He wasn't. Sasuke was a prodigy. He had a natural grace that was common in most Uchiha. He simply moved with a graceful ease that Naruto could never obtain through training. His hand seals flowed effortlessly, whereas it took Naruto time and practice to be able to perform them with speed.

The reason Naruto was special was because he matched Sasuke's prodigious tendencies through sheer determination. Naruto mastered skills just as quickly as his partner, if not faster, by using his iron hard will. He basically forced himself to use abilities that should be beyond him. Sasuke found it to be both illogical and terrifying.

Sasuke's natural grace had transferred over to kenjutsu, and as such, he had found himself quickly picking up how to use a blade. He was, after all, a prodigy. But, while Naruto wasn't a prodigy in all shinobi arts, when it came to kenjutsu only one word could describe him:

Genius.

Apparently, he had inherited his mother's talent for the sword. Sasuke was graceful with the blade, but when compared to Naruto, he looked like a chicken running around headless. And so, Sasuke had become Naruto's apprentice when it came to swordsmanship.

At first, Sasuke had felt resentment towards the blonde. But, when he had stormed off after losing another spar, Naruto had changed his mind with one of his trademark speeches.

" _Listen herer you stupid teme. There's always gonna be someone who's able to beat you because they're stronger than you, because they get the drop on you, or because they can counter your abilities. It doesn't matter. You're not training to beat every son of a bitch out there. You're training for one reason and one reason only: to kill Itachi. And as much as you hate it, me kicking your ass is making you stronger. So suck it up and act like a real shinobi instead of a spoiled brat."_

The dark haired boy sighed as he moved to pick up his chokuto and turned to face his taskmaster once again. Naruto grinned and raised his own sword. "You ready?"

* * *

Naruto stretched, letting out a very audible yawn. Iruka glared at him, causing the young blonde to grin sheepishly and rub the back of his head as his teacher went back to his lecture. The boy sighed and turned to look out the window, lost in his thoughts.

The past couple of months had been some of the best he could remember. His younger sister had really opened up to him, and was now a bundle of sunshine and energy as opposed to the sad, desperate girl she had been a short time ago. The scars were still there, but the wounds had closed.

He chuckled, remembering the look of surprise on her face when they had thrown her a surprise party for her half birthday. It had been his idea, and he had roped in as many people as possible to help him out.

Using his powerful skills in persuasion, he had convinced the Sandaime to host the party in the Sarutobi compound. Amongst the guests had been Kakashi, the Hokage, a host of ANBU who had interacted with the girl over the years, Konohamaru (the Hokage's grandson), a few of Kotomi's classmates, and Sasuke (who had formed a surprisingly close bond with the girl).

The party had been wonderful, Naruto hadn't been able to remember a time when he had been so happy after the Kyuubi attack. As a gift, he had promised to start training his sister permanently. But, as much as he had enjoyed spending time with his friends and sister, the one moment that had stood out the most was his accessing the Namikaze clan compound.

The main gate had been easy: all he had to do was push his chakra into the seal for it to recognize him as a member of the clan. The hard part had been finding his father's library. It had taken him days of searching to find it, but it had been well worth the wait.

Behind a bookshelf in his father's study, and locked with a sealing array that required blood, there was a library. And in this library lay the many techniques of Minato Namikaze and the Uzumaki clan. Naruto nearly broke his jaw by how far he had opened it.

Like a fish to water, the blonde Uzumaki had dived in, reading every scroll he could get his hands on. He had quickly found a scroll that described the Rasengan, an A-rank jutsu that his father had created, and had immediately started the training to master the Yondaime's technique.

Another technique he had found had been his father's Flying Thunder God. Unfortunately, Naruto couldn't use it due to the seal being attuned to the fourth's DNA. If he wanted to master the jutsu, he'd have to rewrite and reorganize major parts of the seal, which would require him to be a high caliber seal master. Luckily for the young blonde, the library contained several scrolls on the beginning teachings of fuuinjutsu.

Fuuinjutsu was known as one of the hardest shinobi arts for good reason. It was like trying to learn a whole new language that had grammar rules that constantly shifted. As difficult as it was, though, Naruto had found himself rather enjoying the art. Of course, he'd have to spend years practicing his calligraphy before he could truly begin, but-

"NARUTO!"

The boy jumped to his feet and drew a kunai from his pouch, looking around for a nonexistent attacker. The class began to laugh, and Naruto looked to the front of the room to see Iruka glaring at him. Rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment, he muttered an apology and sat back down.

The chuunin instructor sighed. "Next time, try to at least look like you're paying attention. Now then, as I was saying, your graduation exam will be this Saturday. Afterwards, if you pass, you'll have a week long break before you're called in to get your team assignments. I expect all of you to study," Iruka looked at Naruto pointedly, "and to become proud ninja of Konoha."

Sakura raised her hand after her teacher's speech and was called on. "What should we expect to be covered on the exam, sensei?" The so called "smartest kunoichi" (which Naruto doubted considering her idiotic fanaticism over his Uchiha friend) asked.

As Iruka began to go into what the class needed to study, Naruto quickly began to zone out again.

As the class ended, Naruto began to exit along with his peers only to be stopped by a firm grip on his shoulder. "Iruka-sensei?" Naruto looked up at the scarred man, a curious look on his face.

The instructor sighed. "Naruto… I need to talk to you about your position in this class." Naruto raised an eyebrow at this, and Iruka continued. "We usually evaluate the class rankings based on the various tests taken over the course of the school year. We add up all the points to see a student's final score in each subject, then average the total points to see their score. Unfortunately, you haven't take the majority of these tests, leading to you having a rather low score. Usually, those who join the class a little bit late simply make up their tests. However, you joined halfway through the year, so it took some time to decide what to do. You could try to make up all your missed tests, but-" Iruka saw an amused yet annoyed look on Naruto's face. "What?" He asked.

The boy just shook his head. "I don't really care about class rankings, sensei."

Iruka raised his eyebrow at the blonde. "Really?"

"Yeah. It's not like enemy nin are going to care where I was ranked in the academy, and I'm certainly not gonna tell them what my academy grades were before we fight. All that matters is that I become a shinobi."

The chuunin gave the boy an appraising look. "Well that's very mature of you Naruto. If it doesn't matter to you than I'll just leave it be. I'll see you in class tomorrow then." He ruffled the kid's blonde hair before turning back towards his desk, resigned to doing paperwork. As he sat down, one of the chair's legs came off with a pop, and flew across the room. Iruka was dumped, unceremoniously, onto the floor.

Looking up, he saw that the leg of his chair was laying on the floor with a string tied around it. The other end of the string was held in the hand of one Naruto Uzumaki. The boy grinned wickedly before he proceeded to run across the room and jump out of a window.

"NARUTO!"

* * *

A certain blonde grinned as he stared at three identical copies of himself. They were merely illusions, but they looked just like him, down to the wicked smile. With a poof of smoke the clones disappeared, leaving the original to smile happily at the two instructors in front of him.

"Very well done Naruto. Congratulations on becoming an official shinobi of Konoha. Don't forget to get your ninja ID later." Iruka glanced over to his assistant, Mizuki, who had a rather sour look on his face. And a black eye courtesy of Naruto during the taijutsu section of the test. "Mizuki, could you get Naruto his official Konoha headband?"

Naruto took the metal piece that was attached to the navy cloth from the reluctant teacher. With an extravagant wave, Naruto pulled a thin orange strip of fabric from the pocket of his black pants. He quickly tore the headband off of its blue background and attached it to the orange cloth. With a grin, Naruto tied the headband around his forehead, proudly showing his new Leaf insignia.

The new article went surprisingly well with his outfit that consisted of a long-sleeved black shirt with orange swirls on the shoulders, long black pants, and orange shinobi sandals. How the boy had managed to find bright orange sandals was beyond Iruka.

"Thanks sensei! I promise I won't let you down." And with one last wave, the troublemaker was off.

* * *

A young red headed girl sat on top of one Konoha's many buildings, looking out at the setting sun that cast an orange hue upon the village. A man was approaching her, jumping from roof top to roof top until he finally made his way to the girl. Kotomi looked up at the man who began to sit down next to her. He had long, blue-grey hair that went to his shoulders and a kind smile on his face. "Hello Kotomi-san. How are you doing?"

"I'm okay, Mizuki-sensei." Her face lit up a bit. "I heard that my brother became a ninja today. That's so cool! One day I'll be a ninja just like him. Then we'll be able to go on missions together and fight bad guys!" Kotomi got more and more excited as she talked, but quickly noticed the sadness on the chuunin's face. "What's wrong Mizuki-sensei?"

"Well Kotomi, your brother didn't pass his exam."

Kotomi gaped at Mizuki. "But… but… why?"

The shinobi simply patted the girl on the back. "I'm sorry. Maybe next time. I'm afraid that the only way for him to pass now would be to, well…" He trailed off, looking away in embarrassment, as if he had told the girl something he shouldn't have.

The red-head's eyes widened. "Is there a way for my brother to pass, sensei? Please tell me. Please."

Mizuki sighed in resignation. "I shouldn't be telling you this, but…"

And so the man explained how the 'secret test' worked. All Kotomi had to do was retrieve the forbidden scroll from the Hokage's office and have her brother learn a single jutsu from it. After that, all her brother had to do was show this jutsu to the Hokage and he would become a ninja. The two quickly agreed that Mizuki would get Naruto and meet her in one of her and her brother's secret training spots.

With a wide smile, Kotomi proceeded to head towards the Hokage tower, already planning on using the special henge that she had seen her brother use to defeat Hiruzen Sarutobi, the god of shinobi, who just so happened to be a pervert.

* * *

Naruto was worried. He hadn't been able to find Kotomi anywhere. Not at Ichiraku's. Not at their house. And not at the park. To top it all off, there seemed to be some sort of emergency going on, with ninjas jumping around everywhere, searching for something.

With a sigh, the boy decided to check their training spot. It was in one of the many forests within Konoha, near the edge of the village. He quickly began to bound across rooftops towards the place where he hoped his sister to be.

As he approached, his instincts immediately began to go off. He heard two raised voices, but neither of which belonged to a young girl. But as he got closer, he heard something that made his blood boil. Crying.

Kotomi was crying.

Naruto reached the clearing and saw a scene that made him pause. Mizuki was standing in a tree above the clearing, an evil grin on his face. Below him was Iruka, who had a massive shuriken impaled in his back. And underneath Iruka…

Naruto felt it in his chest. It wasn't hot. There was no flame. Instead, it was cold. Ice. His blood seemed to freeze. But most of all, he felt **Rage.**

The boy jumped into the clearing, and stared at the silver-haired chuunin. Mizuki looked at him in surprise, then let the grin cover his face once again. "So not only do I get to kill the demon brat, but her brother too? I guess todays just my lucky day!" The man laughed cruelly.

If Mizuki had looked into Naruto's eyes, he would have seen the cold rage held within. Maybe then he would have reconsidered. But he didn't. Without any rush or a flourish, Naruto drew his kodachi.

The chuunin jumped down, pulling another large shuriken from his back. "Let's see what you got, brat." He charged, and Naruto raised his sword to meet him.

"Naruto, no!" Iruka yelled. He knew that Mizuki had special skill with those shuriken. He had managed to wield them with incredible deadliness both as a ranged weapon and as a melee weapon. But what he saw next shocked him. He had never seen Naruto use the sword that he always carried around. He knew that Naruto was skilled in most shinobi arts, maybe even a prodigy, but had always assumed that he only carried the blade to look cool.

He was wrong.

Naruto easily parried his opponent's weapon, then moved into a counter attack. Mizuki dodged an upwards slash intended for his throat, but before he could get back into his stance, another attack was coming. And then another. Then another.

Naruto moved seamlessly through combinations. Forehand. Backhand. Overhead. Spin. Slash at the legs. Dodge. Step in. Before Mizuki could react, Naruto was in his guard. He tried to dive away, but it was impossible for him to escape unscathed. A large, red cut formed on Mizuki's side. If he had been a half second late in his dodge, his intestines would most certainly be spilling out right now.

Mizuki growled at his opponent. "You bastard!" The man rushed forward as fast as he could and swung his shuriken at Naruto's neck, confident that his superior strength would overcome his younger enemy.

Naruto put his left hand on the flat of his blade to reinforce his guard, then leaned back while holding the sword at a diagonal angle. Instead of colliding with the kodachi, the shuriken was deflected over Naruto's head. Mizuki was unprepared for this, having expected to meet more resistance, and quickly lost his balance.

With the speed of a snake, Naruto lashed out with his sword. He was immediately covered in red as blood sprayed from the traitor's throat. Mizuki collapsed, both hands trying to stem the tide as his eyes slowly grew dark. Naruto merely watched as the man died at his feet, his eyes cold and uncaring. Then he turned around and saw his sister's terrified expression and the look of shock on Iruka's face.

"So, anyone wanna tell me what the hell is going on here?" Naruto asked.

Kotomi fainted. Iruka slammed his face into his palm. In his tower, the Hokage smiled grimly as he watched the scene play out in a crystal ball.

* * *

Naruto sighed. He couldn't believe that the Old Man had made him retake his ninja ID photo. He had looked so cool in that face paint. Beside him, Sasuke stared out the window, seemingly caught up in his Uchiha brooding. The blonde swore that if it wasn't for training, the Uchiha would probably spend all day looking all dark and serious and staring off into space.

From the classroom door there came a sound like a stampede. Naruto looked up, hoping that something interesting would happen, but his face fell when he recognized the two kunoichi who were causing the commotion. Sakura and Ino. The leaders of Sasuke's fan club.

The pair seemed to be trying to race through the door to see who would win, but immediately got stuck in it. As they tried to get past each other and into the room, Naruto looked around at the rest of his classmates.

His class was full of clan heads, or at least, future clan heads. There was Shino Aburame, whose clan used special chakra bugs. There was Kiba Inuzaka, a rather wild boy whose clan was known for their partners: trained ninja dogs. Then there was that lazy bastard, Shikamaru Nara, who was easily the smartest person in the room. When he wasn't asleep. Also in the class was Shikamaru's best friend, Choji Akimichi, who looked to be wearing a pair of underwear on his head, and who could also eat enough to put a small elephant in a food coma. And there was that shy Hyuuga girl, Hinata, who couldn't seem to put more than two words together when talking to Naruto.

And last and certainly least (besides Sasuke of course) was Ino Yamanaka, who was the second loudest screecher that Naruto had ever met. The loudest being Sakura Haruno, who was currently stuck in the door with her 'rival'.

Naruto decided to follow Shikamaru's example and take a nap. However, just as he managed to put his head down, the two girls that were stuck in the door finally managed to enter the room. After picking themselves up from their rather exuberant entrance, they immediately ran over to where the young blonde was trying to get some shut eye.

"Oi! Naruto!" The blonde Yamanaka yelled.

The Uzumaki sighed, but didn't look up. "What?"

In hindsight, giving the two kunoichi more encouragement to talk was probably a bad decision.

"Get out of that seat! I should be the one to sit next to Sasuke-kun!" Ino yelled.

Then Sakura added her own thoughts to the mix. "Yeah! Sasuke-kun deserves to sit next to someone who will show him affection!"

"Right. So move it you dumb blonde! I'm gonna be the one who sits in that seat!"

Finally, Naruto let his eyes move up to give the two girls a calculating look. "I'm sorry, did you say something?"

Elsewhere in Konoha, a silver haired man began to feel unexpectedly cheerful, and another man in green spandex shivered and muttered something about "hip attitude".

As Naruto looked up at the two girls who were gaping like fish out of water, he sighed again. He seemed to be doing a lot of that lately. Maybe the Uchiha's moodiness was rubbing off on him.

"Listen, normally I'd be perfectly happy to switch seats. But I've had a particularly exhausting week, and all I want is a little rest. I'm also incredibly stubborn, in case you hadn't noticed. So leave me alone for now, and you can have your Uchiha later, alright?"

He was telling the truth. His week had been incredibly exhausting. After that whole fiasco with the forbidden scroll, he had to give a full oral and written report to the Old Man on what had happened during his and Mizuki's showdown. Then he'd had to come in not just once, but twice to give two more oral reports to the shinobi council, then the whole council, including the citizens and the old geezers.

The second report had taken ages too, because half of the bastards had refused to believe that Naruto could fight a chuunin. They even decided to recall Iruka in to support his story. To be fair, Naruto knew that it was rather surprising for him to beat a fully-fledged chuunin, but he had been lucky.

Mizuki had decided to go up against him while he was using kenjutsu, which was what he was best at. And Mizuki hadn't gone on an actual mission in ages, as he had been busy at the academy. In reality, the man's skill level had been high genin to low chuunin. He hadn't even used any jutsu against him.

To make matters worse, someone on the council had decided that Naruto needed counselling do to having his 'first kill' when he was only an 'academy student'. Of course, he had tried to tell them that he had killed before and that he was actually a shinobi of the leaf, but they had just brushed him off. He had been hoping for some support from the shinobi side of the council, or at least from the Hokage, but they merely found his predicament amusing.

And, according to the Hokage, the counselling sessions were also punishment for teaching a dangerous jutsu to his younger sister. The sessions were bullshit too. The woman who was to give them always showed up an hour late, and always forced their sessions to last way too long to compensate for the late start.

Naruto was pulled out of his thoughts as the two kunoichi began to yell at him once again. Turning to Sasuke, he was going to tell the prick to move so that his fangirls would fuck off when Iruka came in.

"Alright class settle down." When nothing happened, the man scowled.

"I SAID SIT DOWN YOU DAMN BRATS!"

Everyone quickly found a sit, with Sakura pushing Ino out of the way to sit on the other side of Sasuke. As soon as the class had finished moving about, Iruka nodded.

"Okay. I'm going to start giving you guys your team assignments. After lunch, you will meet with your jounin senseis. Understood?"

After a chorus of "Yes, sir", Iruka began to read the teams off a list.

"Team seven will be comprised of Naruto Uzumaki, Sakura Haruno, and Sasuke Uchiha." Sakura immediately started yelling at Ino. Something about how 'love conquers all'. Naruto and Sasuke simply looked at each other and allowed themselves small grins of satisfaction.

"Your jounin instructor will be Kakashi Hatake. Team eight will be comprised of Shino Aburame…"

Naruto zoned out as a look of surprised delight overcame his face. Kakashi would be his jounin instructor? Awesome! He supposed that it made sense considering that the ex-ANBU was his former teacher, and would be able to give Sasuke pointers on his sharingan.

Naruto quickly decided that team seven was going to be the best team ever! Dattebayo!

* * *

 **A/N: Now I know what you're thinking. 'Didn't we already have an author's note at the beginning of the chapter?' Yes. There was. Is. But I finished editing the story and felt a need to rant. Sue me. Actually, I might do this on other chapters. Not every chapter, but some. I'll call it a character analysis I guess.**

So here's the thing. I have read a lot of cool Naruto stories. You know what most have in common? Sasuke bashing. Every. Damn. One. I get it, I too find Sasuke to be a stuck up prick the majority of the time. However, I just wish that if people were going to write a serious story, that they would leave the bashing out of it. So many stories portray excellent character emotion, compelling dialogue, and an intriguing plot. But all of these things get muddied up by paragraphs devoted to bashing characters. And, out of all the characters in Naruto, I don't think that Sasuke deserves the brunt of it. Honestly, if I see the words 'Uchiha elite' or 'I deserve that jutsu' I'm gonna break my laptop. The bastard may be many things, but most of all he was prideful. He never really acted like a prince. Nor did he ever really just expect things to be handed over. At least in part one, I found the teme to be hardworking, arrogant, and cold. I didn't see him going around and demanding that people bow to him. If anything, he avoided people. The only time I remember him 'demanding to be taught' was when he asked Naruto what Sakura told him about the secret to tree climbing. To summarize, though Sasuke is indeed a prick, he is also hardworking and almost as stubborn as Naruto, which is what makes him such a great counterpoint to the protagonist. Overall, I find that he is definitely overly shat on in the fandom. So, the next time you decide to bash the Uchiha, at least bash him for his actual faults, like being a prick.


	3. A Journey to Wave

**AN: I'm back! With another chapter! Yay! Honestly though, this chapter kinda sucked to write. After reading about Naruto's first C-rank mission so many times, it kinda gets old. Even when you're writing it. I had thought about coming up with a different mission, but I have a cool idea for the battle at the bridge and (spoiler!) I wanted to introduce Zabuza to the story, as he may or may not appear later on. Anyways, hope you enjoy the chapter! And please leave a review. I honestly want to hear what people's opinions are and what they think of the story so far.**

 **P.S. The story will diverge a bit more during this mission and afterwards, but most of the divergence will occur during shippuden.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. Why own Naruto when I can judge Kishimoto for what he has done with the series instead?**

* * *

 **Chapter 3: A Journey to Wave**

Naruto worked through his taijutsu katas with practiced ease. He had decided that he would start on the intermediate level of his form after a week or two, once he got settled into his new team.

The young shinobi worked through each movement carefully. Many thought that warm-up katas should be flashy, swift, and powerful. However, to show true mastery, the opposite was true. Naruto knew this.

Each set was performed almost painfully slow. The key to the practice was precision: no wasted movement. Each step was exactly right. Every shift, steady. And although he moved slowly, there was no hesitation. No pause. He moved fluidly, like a lazy stream on a summer's day.

As Naruto moved to deflect an imaginary attack, he lowered his center and bent backwards at the waist. He stayed in this position as he moved an open palm up into a strike that would hit an opponent's chin. As he moved, he felt his abdominal muscles burn in protest at his position. Even so, he did not speed up or try to get into a more comfortable stance.

He let his arm extend fully before using the momentum to begin to perform a half turn with careful precision. His foot landed precisely where he wanted to, and he completed his movement as his right foot took point while his left was put back with the turn. This was an advantage of his 'Dragon of the West' fighting style. It required the user to be comfortable leading with either foot, which was an uncommon trait in some of the other taijutsu styles.

Naruto finished his katas with the same patience with which he had started, and sighed in relief as he let himself sit down for a breather. In the past, he hadn't been capable of such patience, which had led to several mistakes in his form. Luckily, (or unluckily depending on who you ask) the dragons had quickly beat the virtue into the young blonde.

Looking up, Naruto noticed that Sasuke also seemed to performing his own katas, though they were for kenjutsu instead of taijutsu. He also saw his other, rather pink teammate running over towards them. Knowing that if Sakura interrupted her crush's training the Uchiha would undoubtedly kill her, Naruto quickly moved to intercept her.

"Hey Sakura-chan! You're here early."

The new kunoichi gave Naruto a deadpan look. "You and Sasuke-kun got here before me."

The boy merely shrugged. "Me and 'Sasuke-kun'"-Naruto snickered-"usually train before heading to the Academy, so we just decided to train before meeting up with the team." He stated casually.

As Naruto turned to observe his friend's workout, Sakura frowned. She hadn't realized that the two had trained together. In fact, there seemed to be a lot about the blonde that was new and surprising.

"Stop!" Naruto's voice cracked out like a whip and Sasuke immediately froze at the tone used. He looked annoyed at the interruption.

The Uchiha's friend and drill instructor merely grinned at him. "Your balance is off. Your back foot is out of position."

The dark haired boy glowered at the blonde. "How the hell do you know? This is an Uchiha style, not your style!"

Naruto's grin became positively wicked, and with a couple quick steps, he approached Sasuke and gently shoved his left shoulder. The result was immediate, and the clan heir stumbled backwards, losing his balance.

"You should know better than to question me about kenjutsu, teme. Now, begin your kata from the beginning, and try to slow down. It's supposed to be a slow and graceful warm up."

Sasuke opened his mouth to argue, but upon seeing the slightly manic look in the boy's blue eyes, he proceeded to follow Naruto's instructions while grumbling about 'troublesome blondes'. Elsewhere in the village, a certain Nara felt a chill run down his spine.

Once again, Sakura was surprised by Naruto. To be able to get the proud Uchiha to do something he didn't want to was damn near impossible. The blonde in question turned away from the still cursing teme and looked up to see the sun's position in the sky.

"Well, looks like Kakashi-sensei will be officially late today. Not really surprising I guess."

"Um, couldn't we just go find him at the memorial stone? He was there yesterday, and…" Sakura trailed off upon seeing the look in Naruto's eyes.

"No. We won't. And it's not a good idea to interrupt him while he's at the stone. Not until you know him better. 'Kay?"

The pinkette puffed up in indignation. "You went to interrupt him there yesterday."

The blue eyed boy just sighed. "That's because I'm fairly close to him. I'm allowed to. And he was able to get right back to his thoughts afterwards."

 _Flashback: Yesterday_

 _Sakura realized that it was getting late, and that their lunch break had already ended. "Shouldn't we start heading back to the classroom?"_

 _Naruto merely shook his head. "Nah. I know Kakashi, and he's always at least an hour late." The blonde then proceeded to stroll off into the village, occasionally entering stores. Sakura would've continued arguing with him, but Sasuke had merely shrugged and followed Naruto._

 _However, that didn't stop Sakura from bringing it up again a second time five minutes later. Nor the third time. Or the fourth. After around the ninth (or was it the tenth?) time, Naruto let out a huff. "Fine. We'll go see Kakashi. Okay?"_

 _The annoyed genin took off, jumping from roof top to roof top. After a while though, the Sakura noticed that they weren't heading towards the Academy. "Hey, baka, the school isn't that way."_

 _Naruto shot her an irritated look over his shoulder. "I know. Kakashi won't be there." The blonde then sped up so that the kunoichi couldn't talk to him again._

 _After a short period of time, they came upon what looked like some sort of memorial. It was a large black, sculpted stone that had various names carved in it. Standing in front of the stone was a silver haired jounin, whose mask covered the lower half of his face, and his headband was tilted at an angle to cover his right eye. "Wait here," Naruto whispered to his two teammates as they caught up to him, "I'll go talk to him."_

 _The boy jumped down from the trees where they were crouching and approached the man whom he called 'brother'. "Hey Kakashi." The genin got a signature eye smile in response._

" _I know that we were supposed to have a genin test. I know how you feel about teamwork. But, I don't think we need it."_

" _Oh?"_

 _Naruto nodded. "You already know that I will always protect my comrades. 'In the ninja world, those who break the rules are scum, that's true, but those who abandon their friends are worse than scum.' That was the first lesson you taught me. As for the others," Naruto looked back at his new comrades, "well, I trust Sasuke with my life, and he trusts me with his. Sakura doesn't really get what it means to be a shinobi, but she will learn. We'll teach her, and we'll teach her about camaraderie too."_

 _He turned back to his sensei, a wry grin on his face. "Besides, I know that all the clan heirs are gonna pass their genin exams. If they don't, the council would throw a fit."_

 _Kakashi returned the grin. "I suppose you're right. And I do know that you and Sasuke are ready." A sigh escaped the tired man's lips._

" _Meet at training ground 7 tomorrow at nine o'clock."_

" _Yes, sensei. And don't worry, wherever your comrades are right now, I know that they're proud of you. I'm sure that dad is too." With a quick wave and a bright smile, he was gone._

 _Present_

Naruto looked back towards his friend, who was still doing the kenjutsu katas. He began to help him, pointing out mistakes such as foot placement and hand positioning. He also noted some of the openings that the style would have, and how Sasuke would have to adapt it to his own preference.

As the blonde continued to give advice and corrections, the Uchiha's scowl grew larger and larger. It was when the dark haired boy began to show teeth in a sneer that Naruto gave out a tired sigh. "Put down the sword, teme."

The clan heir glared at the blonde, but the blonde glared right back. "I said put it down. There are some men who fight better when they're angry. They can turn their emotions into fuel. You're shit at that when it comes to swordplay. The more angry and frustrated you get, the worse you are. If we were talking about taijutsu it would be a different matter. You get downright vicious when you get pissed off during a fist fight."

Sasuke held his own against a pair of bright blue eyes for almost a whole minute before looking away with a grunt. With an angry movement, he had re-sheathed his sword. For a couple moments, there was a tense silence. Then their new sensei showed up.

"Yo." Kakashi gave a small wave to his new team as he looked at them. "Why don't we start out by introducing ourselves?"

Naruto groaned, but the jounin just smiled at him. "I guess that Naruto has volunteered to go first. Tell us your likes, dislikes, hobbies, and goals for the future."

With a resigned look on his face, the boy started. "My name is Naruto Uzumaki. I like to eat ramen, particularly Ichiraku ramen, and I also like my little sister. My dislikes are the three minutes it takes to heat up ramen, those who don't value family and friends, and murderers. My hobbies are training and growing my plants. My goal is to protect my little sister."

Kakashi looked over to Sakura. "How about you, Pinky?"

"Um, my likes are-"Sakura looked over at Sasuke and giggled. "My hobbies include-"Another glance over at the Uchiha, accompanied by another giggle. "And my goal for the future is to-"Sakura blushed, thinking about becoming Mrs. Uchiha. "Oh! I also dislike my rival Ino-pig."

The jounin blinked at this, and decided that it was best not to dwell too much on what had just witnessed. Had she even given her name? It was clear that Naruto was barely holding it together by the faint wheezing that was coming from him. Meanwhile, Sasuke's face was completely and utterly blank.

"Okay then. You're up next lover-boy."

Sasuke scowled at the nickname, but went on anyways. "My name is Sasuke Uchiha. I like training and ninjutsu. My dislikes… tomatoes. My hobbies are the same as my likes and my goal is to kill a certain man." At his final words, Sasuke looked over at Naruto, who gave him a firm nod. All annoyance for one another was forgotten as conviction entered their eyes.

Kakashi merely sighed. "Well then, let's get started on teamwork exercises. After that, we can go get our first mission." At that last statement, an evil glint entered the man's eye that caused the trio of genin to shudder.

* * *

"Hey Jiji." Naruto walked into the Sandaime's office with a bored air about him. Looking around he noticed the boy standing against the wall while holding up a cloth that was supposed to match the backdrop of the office. The effect was ruined by the clearly visible fingers that were holding up the 'disguise' and the shinobi sandals that were peeking out below the cloth.

"Good morning Naruto-kun. How have you been enjoying your time as a genin?" The Hokage asked with a knowing smile.

The genin in question grunted as he walked towards his prey's hiding place. "Well Old Man, it's not what I was expecting, that's for sure. How long do we have to do chores until we can go on actual missions?"

Hiruzen chuckled. "The more D-ranks you finish, the more likely you are to get a C-rank."

Naruto reached the boy behind the cloth and, with a quick movement, grabbed the twerp by the scruff of his neck. He was an odd looking kid, with a weird helmet that allowed a tuft of brown hair out the top and a scarf several feet too long for the boy.

As Naruto stared at the kid, a look of realization appeared on his face. "Hey I know you. You were at Kotomi's birthday party."

The brat struggled for a while before coming to grips with his situation. "Hmph. If you were able to see through my disguise, then that means you must be strong."

The blonde genin gave his quarry a bemused look. "Uh, sure kid."

Then the scarf-wearing boy pointed at the Hokage. "One day I'll beat you Old Man! Then you'll have to give me that hat!" As the boy made his speech, the door to the office burst open revealing a man in all black who had a pair of circular sunglasses on.

"You!" The man yelled. "Put the Honorable Grandson of the Sandaime down at once!"

Naruto looked at the man, then turned his neck back to look at the boy. "Honorable Grandson, eh? Well, what's your name brat?"

The kid looked up at his captor with a bit of a shocked look on his face. After finding out about his lineage, most people would apologize and start bowing. Instead, this guy had asked what his name was, as if he actually cared about who kid was, not just his pedigree. "My name's Konohamaru."

The blonde gave him a wry grin. "Nice name." He put the kid back on the ground, then proceeded to smack him across the back of the head. Hard.

"Ow!"

"You can't become Hokage just by being a strong ninja, brat. It takes a lot more than that." Naruto turned back to Hiruzen. "Well Jiji, I just wanted to stop in to say hi. See you later!" With a backwards wave, the young genin exited the room.

* * *

Naruto looked on proudly as his teammates sparred. It was clear that Sakura was outmatched, but the frown on the teme's face was definitely a lot more pronounced than last time. The only thing really holding the pink haired kunoichi back was her lack of strength due to dieting and the simplicity of the Academy taijutsu.

Not that there was anything wrong with what the Academy taught in terms of physical combat, but it was supposed to be a foundation, not an actual style to use solely in combat.

It had been surprisingly difficult to convince Sakura to train with them. Naruto knew that she felt inadequate compared to them, especially after seeing them spar during training. What he hadn't considered was that the girl wouldn't go out of her way to get stronger or ask to work out with them. Instead, the girl had simply worked harder to 'make Sasuke-kun hers'. He had made several hints towards her coming early to practice with them, but she had ignored him.

Eventually, Naruto had gotten fed up with her behavior and had told Sakura that she would be training with them from now on. Sakura had tried to protest, but the blonde knucklehead wouldn't take no for an answer. He had threatened her with being dragged out of bed to train, and had followed through with said threats more than once. And the young shinobi didn't even want to think about the kunoichi's so called 'diet'. Doing so would only piss him off more.

Thankfully, after a couple of weeks, Pinky had become a decent addition to the team. The majority of her training was spent on fixing up her stamina, strength, and physical combat capabilities. This training was done by Sasuke, who took a sadistic glee in being able to do what Naruto had done to him. Of course, the Uchiha's questionable (and often deadly) training methods had lessened the girl's enthusiasm for her broody teammate.

Naruto had started training her in chakra control, and had quickly discovered that she was a natural. Sakura had near perfect control, and could easily walk on flat surfaces. This accomplishment was somewhat dampened when the blonde genin learned that Sakura's reserves were pitifully small. He had worked with her to build them up, but it would take time. Even so, Naruto knew that the girl could become a very accomplished med-nin or genjutsu specialist later on. He would probably push for medic, seeing as Sasuke had the sharingan, which was perfect for the illusory art.

After Naruto had told the team about what the Hokage told him concerning how to get a C-rank mission, the genin had quickly taken to completing their 'chores' with a fervor. However, if Team 7 had to hunt down that damned cat Tora one more time, it wouldn't be escaping with its fur still attached to its body.

They were confident that they would get a C-rank soon, considering that they had, in three-and-a-half weeks, done more D-ranks than most genin accomplished in three months. Naruto grinned at the prospect of an actual mission. What would they get? Bandits? A bodyguard detail? Heaven forbid that they get border patrol on their first C-rank.

In a swirl of leaves, a familiar silver haired ninja appeared behind Naruto.

"Yo. What's up?"

The blonde genin just sighed and shook his head. "Not much. Just training as per usual."

Kakashi looked at him. "Well, I can see that Sasuke and Sakura are training, but you appear to simply be standing there."

"I'm watching their spar to make sure that the teme doesn't actually kill Pinky. Basically, I'm doing your job for you." Naruto glared at his sensei. In all fairness, he knew that Kakashi wasn't really a good teacher for genins. He simply couldn't relate to them. The man had spent the majority of his time as a shinobi working in ANBU doing A and S-rank missions, and had grown up during a war. He just didn't have the ability to introduce others into the ninja world or teach them the basics that he had been taught before he could walk.

Naruto knew, however, that once team 7 had become experienced enough, the one-eyed jounin would be an invaluable source of knowledge and leadership.

"Well Naruto, gather up your teammates. We're going to go get a mission."

Naruto nodded. "C-rank?"

Kakashi paused, then sighed. "Fine. I see no reason to not allow you all to go on one. Let's go." The jounin turned around and began to walk away, reading an orange book as he went. Acting quickly, Naruto stopped his comrades' spar and told them the good news.

* * *

A certain blonde genin smiled as he saw two puddles in the road. It hadn't rained in weeks, so there was no way that the puddles could exist. He could also faintly sense some killing intent coming through, though the person was trying to hide it. Looking at his teammates, Naruto saw that Kakashi had noticed but wasn't gonna do anything about it. Judging by the small frown on Sasuke's face, he knew that something was wrong, but couldn't tell what. Sakura was staring at the puddles with a concerned look on her face. It looked like her chakra control was coming in handy, as it allowed her to be a pretty decent sensor.

With an evil grin, Naruto quickly tied one of his few explosive tags to a kunai, and threw it next to the puddle on his right. Immediately, two ninjas jumped out of the water sources to escape the explosion. Judging by their struck-through headbands, they were missing nin from Kirigakure. "Damn brat. Hand over the bridge builder and you can leave here with your heads attached.

Kakashi looked at Tazuna (a bridge builder from Wave country that they were protecting) then turned back to the enemy, an amused look on his face.

"No."

The fight barely last three minutes. Kakashi and Sasuke played front line taijutsu while Naruto was their ranged support, with Sakura guarding the bridge builder while acting as Naruto's backup. Although the pair of missing nin had a rather interesting weapon comprised of a pair of gauntlets (one worn by each shinobi) with a shuriken-chain connecting them, they simply didn't have the skill necessary to win.

Naruto neutralized the chain early by cutting it with a thrown kunai powered with wind chakra. Kakashi beat his opponent with a casual ease that was terrifying, while Sasuke had a bit more trouble with his opponent due to the claws attached to his opponent's gauntlet. With several precise shuriken throws, Naruto gave his teammate an opening, allowing Sasuke to shove a kunai through the man's neck.

After tying the dead pair up and a quick check in the bingo book, the two were discovered to be the Demon Brothers, C-rank missing nin from Kiri. Unfortunately for them, they didn't have access to mist or water which reduced their effectiveness, as they relied heavily on the element of surprise.

Kakashi sent a quick letter to Konoha, requesting an ANBU team to pick up their kills, then turned to Tazuna. "So, bridge builder, why do you have ninja after you?"

* * *

The boat gently glided past the mist and into the docks. As the team disembarked, Naruto frowned at what he had been told. A man by the name of Gato was taking over Wave country with his thugs and shipping business, starving the people living there in the process. The bridge that Tazuna was building would provide an economic boost to the poor people of Wave, allowing them to trade freely without having to deal with Gato.

Of course, the rich man hadn't liked that, and had hired missing nin to kill Tazuna. Being the poor bridge builder that he was, Tazuna hadn't been able to afford a B-rank mission, so he had lied about the opposition. That didn't stop team 7 from wanting to complete the mission, though. If anything, it made it more exciting.

The group walked through the trees and mist, hoping to reach old man Tazuna's house before nightfall. That's when Naruto heard it, a faint swooshing sound coming from behind him.

"Get down!" Yelled Kakashi, but the blonde genin was already shoving Sakura and the old man to the ground. A giant blade spun through the air above team 7, and bit deeply into a tree in front of the Konoha shinobi. A man suddenly appeared on the blade's handle He was tall, with short black hair and bandages covering his lower face. He wore no shirt, and only had a holster for his blade on his torso.

Looking coldly at his opponents, the man spoke. "Kakashi Hatake, the copy ninja, possessor of the legendary sharingan. Fancy meeting you here. Hand over the bridge builder and I'll leave your worthless brats alive."

"Zabuza Momochi, Demon of the Hidden Mist. One of the Seven Swordsman. A-rank missing nin from Kiri. What a pleasant surprise. I'm afraid I can't give him to you." Kakashi returned in an aloof voice. "Kids, protect Tazuna." The famous copy ninja raised his headband, revealing a sharingan with three tomoe.

"The sharingan already? I'm honored." Zabuza mocked. "Well then let's get started. Hiding in Mist Technique!" A curtain of mist pervaded the clearing, obscuring everyone's vision. Due to it being laced with chakra, even Kakashi's sharingan couldn't penetrate it.

"Eight choices." The swordsman's disembodied voice began. "Liver, lungs, spine, cervical vein, neck vein, brain, kidneys and heart. Which one shall I go after?" A wave of killing intent assaulted the genin guarding Tazuna.

Sakura began to tremble. She had never felt so much killing intent before. Meanwhile, Sasuke was looking around as calmly as he could. He had experienced this before: Naruto was quite skilled with killing intent, and would often use it on him, though not to this level.

A feral smile stretched over Naruto's face. An honest to god swordsman of the mist. He even had one of the seven swords. The boy drew his kodachi eagerly, waiting to feel the disturbance in the air that would announce the man's arrival. He stood completely still, letting the mist wind around him gently, waiting for… there!

In the midst of the genin, Zabuza appeared. Quickly, Naruto turned, swinging his sword for the man's neck. Out of the corner of his eye, the blonde saw Sasuke also moving, striking low with a kunai in hand. However, even with their excellent reaction time, neither genin could match Kakashi's speed.

The boys' eyes widened as they saw their sensei appear, shoving a kunai into his enemy's midsection. Sasuke grinned wickedly as he saw his sensei strike, but his visage turned into a panicked expression as he saw water begin to pour out of the swordsman's stomach, before he turned into water. _A water clone! Shit!_ The dark haired boy turned wildly to see the real Zabuza swinging his massive blade at Kakashi's spine.

Sasuke moved, trying to shove the silver haired jounin out of the way, but Naruto had already put his blade up, intercepting the massive sword. Unfortunately, the boy wasn't strong enough to fully stop the blow from reaching Kakashi. A deep gash was made in the copy nin's shoulder, but instead of blood, this too began to leak water.

The water clone popped as a kunai appeared in Zabuza's back, and he once again dispersed intro water. _Dammit! How many Water clones are there?_ Sasuke thought. He would use his eyes, but he didn't want to reveal his trump card to an enemy they may face again. Nor did he want to become a target.

Naruto was sick of all the damn clones and the fucking mist. Growling, he raised his hands began to rapidly form seals. "Futon: Great Breakthrough!" He roared, and a gale of wind pushed away the mist that had been covering the clearing. It was a risky move, as forming hand seals had given the enemy an opportunity to strike, but Naruto trusted Kakashi to keep the man distracted.

Indeed, his trust proved well founded. As the mist was blown away, the genin of team 7 saw their sensei engaging in a brutal bout of taijutsu with Zabuza. As the mist cleared, Kakashi saw that he was dangerously close to the nearby lake. The jounin knew that the water was Zabuza's domain, so instead of blocking a kick that would have thrown him onto the surface of the water, Kakashi dodged with as much speed as possible.

Maneuvering himself away from the lake and towards his team, the copy nin watched his opponent, waiting for a single twitch that would reveal his intentions.

"Well Kakashi, I gotta say, those brats aren't as useless as I thought. Too bad. That means I'll have to kill them." The man quickly began to form seals, and Kakashi recognized the jutsu.

"Sasuke! Naruto! Combination!" Immediately responding to the command, the two boys jumped forward, forming hand seals of their own.

"Suiton: Water Dragon Bullet!"A giant dragon made of water rose out of the lake, then shot towards team 7 and the bridge builder.

"Katon: Great Fireball!" Sasuke spat out a large ball of fire that combined with Naruto's wind jutsu, creating a roaring inferno that intercepted the water dragon. The jutsus clashed in an explosion of steam. Even with the combination technique, Naruto and Sasuke's attack barely stopped Zabuza's, leaving a layer of water on the ground.

But even as the attacks collided, Kakashi had started a jutsu of his own. "Raiton: Electromagnetic Murder!" Lightning shot out of the copy nin's hands and struck the newly formed pool, quickly transferring through the water to strike Zabuza, who hadn't expected the two genin to stop his attack.

The swordsman collapsed in a heap. As the mist cleared, Kakashi began to cautiously approach the missing nin while lowering his headband to re-cover his eye, when several senbon needles flew out of the nearby trees to strike Zabuza in the neck. A young ninja appeared, standing over the missing nin. The new arrival had his face covered with a Kiri hunter nin mask.

"Sorry to take your kill, but I've been searching for Zabuza Momochi for a while." Kakashi walked up to the corpse and checked the pulse. Finding none, the jounin nodded. The hunter nin shunshined away with the body.

Looking back towards his team, Kakashi allowed a smile to grace his features. "Good job team." He then proceeded to fall to one knee, panting heavily.

Naruto rushed over to his brother-in-all-but-blood. "Sensei! Are you alright?"

The silver haired man merely smiled once again. "Just tired. I used the sharingan for too long, and lost a lot of chakra."

Naruto nodded, then proceeded to pick the jounin up, putting him on his back. "Well then, I guess I'll be carrying you the rest of the way." And with that, team 7 and the bridge builder departed.

* * *

 **AN: So, a little thing I want to tag on at the end of this chapter will be a character ability sheet thingy. Instead of using a 1-5 scale, I'll be using an letter scale, from E (Low) to S (High). Each letter is the same as the bingo book rankings, meaning that if someone has a C in taijutsu, then they will roughly be equal to most C-ranked shinobi in taijutsu. There will be 6 main categories: Tai, Gen, and Ninjutsu, as well as strength, speed, and intellect. Jutsu ranks are judged not just by knowledge but application. E.g. Kakashi knows a thousand jutsu, but rarely uses many of them due to a lack of mastery, meaning that he doesn't necessarily have an S in ninjutsu (though that's also due to a low chakra supply in comparison to all the jutsu he knows).**

 **Naruto:**

 **Taijutsu** **\- C (Once he masters the more advanced forms of his kata and incorporates some other styles, it will go up)**

 **Genjutsu** **\- D (This is only based on what genjutsu you can perform, not how well you resist. Currently, Naruto has a very low level dragon paralysis genjutsu)**

 **Ninjutsu- B (High B due to large chakra supply)**

 **Strength** **\- C (Is still only a kid, though his 13th birthday happened recently)**

 **Speed- B (While only a kid, he's been trying to outrun dragons for years. This made him faster than the average genin, close to A)**

 **Intellect- C-B (Can swing either way. While often a bit of an air head, he can be cunning when he wants to)**

 ***Kenjutsu** **\- A (Enormous raw talent and a knack for combat gives Naruto this rank. The only thing he lacks is real combat experience)**

 **Sasuke:**

 **Taijutsu- C (B with sharingan)**

 **Genjutsu- D (Doesn't know any sharingan specific genjutsu yet, and rarely applies genjutsu in combat)**

 **Ninjutsu- B (Knows two katon and one raiton jutsu, and his mastery over great fireball can make it a b-rank jutsu by overloading chakra)**

 **Strength- C (He's just a boi)**

 **Speed- B (Only genin in Konoha besides Lee who can match Naruto, though he is slightly slower)**

 **Intellect- B (Smart, with good combat thinking, but can overestimate himself and underestimate others)**

 **Kakashi:**

 **Taijutsu- A (Trained with Guy, who is an S class taijutsu specialist)**

 **Genjutsu- C (Knows many genjutsu, but has little application)**

 **Ninjutsu- A (Close to S, needs more chakra and variety. Little bit of training.**

 **Strength- B (Strong, but not too strong. A little above average)**

 **Speed- A**

 **Intellect- A (Close to S, but not quite a genius outside of battle)**

 **Asterisks are for skills that are not the main 6, but are added on when necessary. These skills may include kenjutsu, fuuinjutsu, and some other stuff that I have yet to think of. Hope you enjoyed, hopefully I'll have my next chapter up soon. It will probably be more than 5k words.**


	4. Dragon's Curse

**AN: New chapter out. I personally liked how the action scene turned out in this chapter. Unfortunately, neither Sasuke or Sakura got a chance to shine in terms of combat. They did, however, get some good character development. So there's that. Well, please enjoy the chapter! Hopefully, there'll be a new one out next week. Keep an eye out.**

 **Disclaimer: No tengo Naruto.**

* * *

 **Chapter 4: Dragon's Curse**

Naruto let himself fall back onto the ground, panting. A sheen of sweat covered his body, and his cerulean eyes glittered angrily. Breathing heavily, he pulled himself over to one of the tall trees surrounding the clearing and leaned back against it. Looking around, he allowed himself a feral grin.

During the past couple of months, he had managed to complete the first step of his nature manipulation for wind. Splitting the leaf had taken more time and effort than he had thought, but luckily it was an easy exercise to work on. He had taken to carrying around several leaves in his pockets and practicing during class or whenever else he had free time.

The second step would require him to 'split a waterfall'. Unfortunately, waterfalls weren't very common in most training grounds. That made it rather difficult for him to practice the second stage with any regularity. Thankfully, the library had a scroll from Suna. Due to the village being located in the middle of the desert, most wind users couldn't find a waterfall to split. As such, they would instead practice cutting boulders with pure wind manipulation.

With some trial and error, Naruto had discovered an exercise that he could accomplish that would, hopefully, allow him to complete his training in nature manipulation. He had focused on sending out wind chakra from his body in precise blades that would fly out and cut through anything around him. Theoretically, that is.

For the first month, he hadn't even been able to make the tiny blades travel more than a few feet from his body before dissipating. However, he had focused more on this training than any other, besides finishing up the first stage of his fire manipulation. He had spent hours each day, standing in clearings while shooting out blades of wind. And here, one could see the fruits of his labors.

Of course, tonight he wasn't just training for the sake of power. No, he was training due to a certain brat's comment about how 'he knew nothing about suffering'. Inari, the grandson of Tazuna the bridge builder, had decided to let the ninja know that resisting Gato was pointless and that they would all die. Naruto growled at the thought. He had been very close to punching the kid but had barely restrained himself. Instead, he had taken his anger out on nature. Closing his eyes, Naruto allowed himself to fall into the sweet relief of sleep.

* * *

Naruto jerked awake, his instincts screaming at him to move. Rolling to his right while grabbing the sheath of his kodachi, he drew his sword in a fluid motion. Holding the blade up in preparation to block an incoming attack, he looked around wildly to find his attacker. It was then that he met eyes with a rather shocked… girl? Guy?

Rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment, Naruto quickly sheathed his sword. "Hehe… Sorry about that. You, uh, surprised me." As he talked, Naruto held out his hand to the person who had woken him. However, his other hand surreptitiously grabbed a kunai from his pouch and flicked it up his sleeve.

"I'm Naruto."

The young girl (at least, Naruto thought that it was a girl) giggled and took his hand. "I'm Haku. I didn't mean to startle you, but I was curious as to what a young boy was doing in the middle of the woods, in a clearing that apparently got attacked by a raging boar. You're a shinobi, right?"

Naruto laughed nervously as he eyed the clearing. It hadn't been so obvious at night, but now it was clear that his wind manipulation training had affected the environment more than he thought. There were gashes across the trees, and long furrows in the ground, that made the area look like it had been torn apart by a ginormous scythe.

"Uh, yeah, I am. I kind of got a little too excited during my training, and ended up passing out." Now there was an understatement. Judging by the state of the forest, it was a miracle that he hadn't gone into a chakra-exhaustion induced coma. Even though the gouges weren't particularly deep, there were hundreds of them.

The girl laughed again, and Naruto allowed himself to chuckle along with her. She had a nice laugh, like tinkling bells.

"Well, now that I've told you what I'm doing out here, what's a girl like you doing in the forest so early in the morning by yourself?"

Haku gave him an odd look before speaking. "Well, my father has fallen ill recently, so I've been collecting medicinal herbs to help him recover."

Naruto smiled brightly. "That's awesome! Not your father being ill, I mean, but that you can use herbs to heal people. Let me help you!"

And with endless enthusiasm, the pair quickly filled up a basket full of various roots and herbs. With kindness and patience, Haku told Naruto a little about each plant: what they look like, what they're used for, and how best to prepare them. After spending the whole morning together, Haku finally decided that she had to get back.

As she was leaving, Haku glanced back over her shoulder to address the blonde. "By the way, Naruto-kun, I'm a boy." And with that, he left.

* * *

Naruto sighed as he put on his black tee shirt after stepping out of the river. He had finished up his morning training and had washed himself free of the sweat and grime that had coated his body. It was his turn to stay behind, as the rest of team 7 had gone to guard Tazuna at the bridge. That meant that it was up to Naruto to watch the bridge builder's daughter, Tsunami, and grandson, Inari.

It had been quite alarming to learn that Zabuza probably wasn't dead. Supposedly, a true Kiri hunter nin was supposed to decapitate the person and then destroy the body so that other people couldn't use it to find out Kiri secrets. Instead of using a weapon that could decapitate a person, the shinobi had used senbon needles, which aren't considered lethal. Senbon are usually used to strike pressure points, and if several pressure points in the neck are hit, they can produce a death-like state.

According to Kakashi's calculations, the man would be up and fighting in several days, or sooner if his accomplice had healing capabilities.

Naruto bent down to pick up his grey jacket but paused as he saw a small white dragon emerge from the mist. The dragon flew over and landed on its master's shoulder. "Naruto-sama, two bandits are approaching the house that you asked me to watch over. I believe that they are the thugs of Gato whom you were talking about."

The blonde genin stroked the dragon's head gently, earning a deep purr of appreciation, "Thank you Misuto-san. I'll take care of them. Please head over to the bridge to observe whether or not my teammates are under attack, then report back to me."

The dragon nodded once before quickly disappearing back into the mist. With all the speed he could muster, Naruto raced back to Tazuna's house. Upon arriving, he saw a pair of thugs standing on the pier outside of the building. One of the men was holding Tsunami with a sword at her throat. The other was approaching Inari, who was holding a small crossbow with trembling hands. Although the boy was obviously scared, it was clear that he would not let his mother be taken without a fight.

Silent as a wraith, Naruto jumped from the roof of the house while drawing his blade. He landed noiselessly next to the thug holding Tsunami, and flicked out with his kodachi, cutting off the man's hand in which the sword was held. The man screamed in agony and held his arm to his chest. The man's partner quickly turned away from Inari to find the new threat. That was his first mistake.

A twang sounded out as a bolt flew from Inari's crossbow and struck the man in the back. The mercenary grunted and dropped his weapon. That was his second and final mistake. Naruto buried his kodachi in the man's chest, then maneuvered the body towards the edge of the pier. He kicked the corpse off his blade, allowing it to land in the water. He turned to finish off the other mercenary, but the man was already running back into the town, tears streaming down his face.

The young blonde turned to the bridge builder's grandson. "Good job, Inari. That was very brave of you." The young boy perked up at the praise.

Naruto was about to escort them back into the house when Misuto reappeared out of the mist. Once again, the dragon landed on the genin's shoulder. "It appears that your team is under attack by two shinobi, Naruto-sama. One is wielding a giant sword, and the other wears a mask and uses senbon. I believe that they are in need of assistance."

"Got it, thanks again Misuto-san. Tsunami, please go hide in the village. I don't think that the house is safe. I'm gonna head over to the bridge to help out. Inari, look after your mom." And with that, Naruto jumped away, heading towards the bridge that was still under construction.

He rushed onto the bridge, noticing that large puddles of water covered the surface, and headed towards the sound of steel against steel. As he neared the fight, he spotted Sakura standing in front of Tazuna, a kunai in her hand and a concerned look on her face. He could vaguely spot two pairs of combatants fighting in the mist. He started heading towards the smaller pair, and called out to Sakura, "I'm gonna go support the teme. You keep guarding Tazuna and try to land a genjutsu on the enemy if they get close!"

As Naruto approached his teammate's fight, he saw that Sasuke was engaged in a high-speed bout of taijutsu with the hunter nin. The blonde was surprised to see that the opponent was keeping up with the teme, and even surpassing him in terms of speed. Eventually, Sasuke got tired of using his fists, so he lashed out with a kunai appearing in his hand. The rogue nin leaned away from the slice, then jumped back, creating space.

With impressive speed, the rogue brought out several senbon before throwing them towards the Uchiha. However, even as the needles were leaving the enemy's hand, Naruto had finished his hand seals. "Futon: Great Breakthrough!"

The gale rushed forward, easily knocking away the senbon and pushed the nin back several feet. Naruto's jutsu was quickly followed up by several precisely thrown shuriken, courtesy of Sasuke. Performing hand seals just as quickly as Naruto and with one hand, the hunter nin used his own jutsu to intercept the shuriken. "Hyoton: Ice Wall!" A block of ice rose out of one of the puddles, protecting the masked man from being killed.

"Ice release?" Naruto questioned. "I've never heard of it."

Sasuke nodded his head in agreement.

Then the masked shinobi spoke. "It's clear that I cannot defeat the two of you together like this. Allow me to show you my strongest ability. I'm afraid you won't escape with your lives."

Before either genin could react, their enemy had finished his hand signs and a large dome of ice mirrors formed around them. "Demonic Mirroring Ice Crystal" Then, the young man walked forward and stepped _into_ one of the mirrors. All of a sudden, the hunter nin became reflected in every single mirror surrounding the pair.

"Oh shit," Naruto muttered. "Sasuke, sword out."

The Uchiha heir complied with Naruto's instruction, pulling his chokuto out and getting into his kenjutsu stance. Then, several senbon flew at the pair from one of the mirrors. Moving quickly, the blonde shinobi deflected them away with his blade. But even as he finished blocking the projectiles, there was a blur of motion and several more needles flew out.

This time, Sasuke used his sword to knock the senbon away, but before he had finished even more were flying towards them from a different direction. The black haired boy quickly activated his sharingan in the hopes of keeping up with his opponent's speed, but it still wasn't enough. His body just wasn't fast enough to match the senbon raining down on the pair from what seemed like every direction at once.

The needles soon found their way past the boys' guard. Naruto grunted as one of the projectiles lodged itself in his forearm, and he felt his ring and pinky finger go numb on his left hand. "How is the bastard doing this?"

"He's moving from mirror to mirror with insane speed. Even my sharingan can barely keep up. It's ridiculous."

"Just give up." The masked shinobi said. "You cannot win in here."

Naruto swore as he felt another needle graze his cheek. They needed a way out of this. At this point, it was a battle of attrition. Either the masked shinobi would run out of chakra, or a senbon would hit the right pressure point, fatally limiting their mobility. He really didn't like those odds. And there was no telling how Kakashi was faring. In the last go-round, their sensei had trouble against the Demon of the Mist. They needed to get out to assist their sensei before Zabuza slipped past him and killed Tazuna or Sakura.

Naruto knew he could win. He knew that he could destroy both of them and have energy to spare. But he needed time to set up, and there was a fifty percent chance that he'd die. Then again, if he couldn't get out of here, there was a good chance that his entire team would kick the bucket.

Out of the corner of his eye, Naruto saw a senbon heading towards his neck. He wasn't fast enough to dodge or block it, it was too close. _Shit, shit, shit!_ He thought as the needle drew closer. Then a hand reached out and plucked the weapon out of the air. Naruto turned in surprise to see a pair of crimson eyes with two black tomoes spinning wildly in each red orb. The blonde grinned.

"Sasuke, I need you to cover me for two minutes. I don't care if you can't move afterward, just don't die." Then without another word, Naruto dropped to the ground with his legs crossed, formed the necessary hand seals, and drew a line of blood across his palm with his sword. "Summoning Jutsu!"

A cloud of smoke appeared, and out of it came a gold dragon. It was three feet long and had the body of a serpent. It had two arms, but no legs, and seemed to levitate in the air without the assistance of its wings. On its head were two horns that flowed backwards, and surrounding them were tufts of grey hair. Above its lips were two long whiskers that seemed to move on their own, like writhing snakes. In its claws, the dragon held a red scroll.

"Hello, Komon-sama. I'm afraid that I need the scroll."

The old dragon looked at Naruto worriedly. "Are you sure Naruto-chan? Your body is not ready for this technique, and your chakra network could be irreparably damaged. Do you really need to take such risks?"

Naruto simply nodded his head. Komon sighed as he held out the scroll to the young boy. "Very well. You better survive, Naruto-chan, or I will make the Shinigami revive you just so I can kill you again. Got it?" The dragon gave the blonde a hard look, but the shinobi just laughed.

"You got it, Komon-Jiji! I promise that I'll kick some serious ass." The dragon smiled at his young friend's antics, then disappeared in a puff of smoke. Naruto quickly flung the scroll open, then placed his palm on the parchment and channeled chakra into the seal located on the paper. With a pop, a small glass vial full of a red liquid jumped out, and Naruto caught it deftly. With a flick of his thumb, Konoha's knucklehead ninja pushed the cork off the vial and downed its contents in two quick gulps.

The boy grinned as he felt the influx of power roaring through and around his body. However, the grin quickly turned into a grimace as he felt an uncomfortable sensation in his stomach. The red-hot pain began to spread through his chest, down his legs, and into his arms. Naruto felt bile rise up in his throat as he _burned_. He opened his mouth and let out a scream that soon turned into a roar.

The mirrors of ice shook as a strange chakra burst through the air. Both Sasuke (whose body was riddled with needles) and the hunter nin paused and stared at the blonde as he began to change. Across the back of his hands and forearms, orange scales began to sprout up. They shone with a fiery light as they covered his skin. They also started appearing around his eyes and across his cheeks. His canines began to grow and so did his nails, which became pointed.

The biggest change, though, were his eyes. The once cerulean blue was now laced with streaks of emerald green, and the two colors expanded beyond the borders of his iris to cover the whites of his eyes. His pupils remained black, but turned into slits, like those of a cat or snake. Or a dragon.

Getting over his shock, the masked man flung more senbon at the monster that had appeared in front of him, but the wild chakra surged, forcing the needles off course. With another roar, Naruto charged forwards towards the mirror in which the rogue shinobi was located. The hunter nin tried to move to another mirror, but a hand shot out and grabbed him by his face. Then, as if he was trying to shotput a ball, Naruto threw the shinobi through the mirror from which he came.

There was a crash as the ice gave, and the shinobi rolled across the bridge even as his mask broke away in pieces. Naruto rushed forward, intent on finishing his opponent, but as he neared the injured shinobi, he recognized him.

Haku.

The boy looked down at the face that he had seen just a few days ago. "Hello… Naruto-kun. I'm sorry. Please… kill me. I… I have failed… Zabuza. I am but a broken tool. I-I am worthless now."

But even as Naruto heard this, and felt the anger well up in his chest, his now improved hearing and sense of smell picked up something. A large group of men, two hundred and one to be exact, were approaching the bridge. His new senses picked up words being spoken by a rather unsavory man. Naruto allowed himself a feral grin.

"Don't worry, Haku. Neither you nor Zabuza are dying today. I have a plan."

Naruto turned as he heard what sounded like a thousand birds chirping. He saw his sensei holding his wrist with his left hand. His right hand was covered in crackling lightning. In front of him, Zabuza Momochi was stuck in place, held in the jaws of several ninja dogs. Kakashi began to move forward, but Naruto was already sprinting towards them.

The copy ninja charged, intent on ramming his jutsu through his opponent's chest. The dogs disappeared in puffs of smoke just as Kakashi's hand was about to strike, but then another hand grabbed the jounin's wrist and pulled it off target. A large gash was cut into the swordsman's shoulder, but before either he or Kakashi could react, a knee flew up into Zabuza's stomach. Then, Naruto grabbed him by the throat and threw him on the ground.

"Naruto, what the…" But the wild blonde wasn't listening.

"Zabuza. Your boss, Gato, is planning on betraying you and Haku. He doesn't want to pay you." The swordsman squirmed and tried to pull a kunai out of his pocket, but one long claw appeared centimeters away from his eye.

"Resist, and I kill you. Got it? Now listen up. I think you'll hear something interesting."

Even as Naruto spoke, Gato and his horde of mercenaries walked towards them. Then, the business mogul's voice rang out across the bridge. "Demon of the Mist my ass! You didn't manage to kill even one of them! I guess it's a good thing I wasn't gonna pay you anyways. If it makes you feel better, I'll make sure you die quick. I can't say the same for your little bastard apprentice though. He assaulted me, and for that, I'm gonna make his death nice and slow."

Underneath Naruto, Zabuza growled. Looking down, blue-green eyes met black. "So, you have no reason to fight us anymore, right?" The man glared at the boy for a while, then a smile slowly spread across his face.

"I guess not."

The blonde nodded. "Well then, I'm glad that's settled. I'm running on borrowed time here, so I'm going to finish this quickly. If you'll excuse me." He straightened up, then began to approach the group of mercenaries with a steady gait while forming hand signs with blinding speed.

Gato stepped back for a moment, frightened by the terrifying creature before screaming at his men. "KILL HIM!"

The mercenaries didn't even get to move more than three steps. "Sage Art: Draconic Immolation!"

A huge swath of golden flame shot out of Naruto's mouth and consumed everything before him, turning all to ash. The screams sounded only for a second or two before being overcome by the roar of fire. As the jutsu ended, the flames cleared to reveal that not a single person caught in Naruto's wrath was still alive.

Zabuza got to his feet and stared in wonderment at what the blonde had done. While the defeat of the mercenaries was an impressive feat, the size of the jutsu and the speed at which they were killed was even more so. The move was clearly a very powerful fire jutsu, and he had never seen golden flames like those.

Naruto raced back over to where his sensei and Zabuza were standing and quickly began to speak. "I know you have questions, but you'll have to save them for later. This is important. Because of the technique I used, I only have a little while before I collapse. I just ingested dragon blood, which has special properties that allow me to absorb a special chakra without turning into stone. The only problem is that my body and chakra system aren't fully developed and can't deal with the strain."

"The blood will stay in my system for exactly thirteen days. The blood will allow the chakra to stay in my body while only doing minimal damage as it leaks out naturally. However, after those thirteen days, my chakra system will start to be torn apart by the foreign chakra that's left over from this technique. You need to get me to Konoha as quickly as possible, or else I'm dead. I suggest having Zabuza and Haku take me as you guys still have to finish the mission and they owe me their lives. That's about it. Goodnight."

And with that, Naruto fell backwards, unconscious as the scales began to recede and his body went back to normal. Kakashi caught the young shinobi before he hit the ground, and lowered him gently. He paused, thinking. He had used up a large amount of chakra in the fight, especially with his sharingan and chidori. He knew that he wouldn't be able to move with any speed anytime soon.

Looking around, he saw that Sasuke also didn't seem to be in the best shape, and clearly resembled a porcupine. And Sakura, though in good health, didn't have the stamina or strength necessary to transport a person over distance.

Finally, Kakashi turned to Zabuza and Haku, who had walked over. Zabuza had wounds all over his body, but most were superficial, and none were fatal. The only reason the man had been beaten by Kakashi was because he had been out-skilled. He knew that in terms of stamina, the Demon of the Mist had him handily beat. And, from what he'd been able to pick up from the fight between Naruto, Sasuke, and Haku, the boy had only been hit once.

With a sigh, the copy ninja spoke. "Well, Momochi-san? Will you take Naruto back to Konoha to repay your debt? My team couldn't make the journey."

The man grunted. "Fine. I don't like owing people, especially brats like him. Plus, judging from what I saw, he'll make a good ally in the future. We'll take him."

And with that, Kakashi handed the genin over to Zabuza before pulling out a pen and paper. He quickly wrote out a message briefly describing what had happened during the mission and vouching for Zabuza. He then gave the note to his dog summon, Pakkun, and told the dog to deliver it to the Sandaime.

* * *

Hiruzen Sarutobi glared at the piles of paperwork on his desk as he puffed away on his pipe. With an audible huff, he turned his chair around to look out through the window at the Hidden Leaf Village. No matter how many times he saw it, the view of Konoha from the Hokage's office always seemed to lighten his heart, but it also put more weight on his shoulders.

A rapid series of knocks sounded at the door to his office. "Come in."

A young chuunin barged in and gave a quick bow. "Hokage-sama! Zabuza Momochi, a missing nin, rebel of Kirigakure, and former member of the Seven Swordsman is at the front gate! He requests to speak with you."

Hiruzen frowned. "About the civil war? I believe that I have made my position clear in the matter of Kiri's civil war. Konoha will not be picking sides," the Hokage stated.

"Um, no Hokage-sama. He says that he has the genin Naruto Uzumaki with him and that he needs medical assistance immediately." As the man spoke, a small dog jumped up onto the windowsill outside the office. In his mouth, he held a small scroll. The ANBU operative, Cat, recognized the animal immediately as one of Kakashi's summons.

Cat moved to the window and opened it up to allow Pakkun into the room. The pug jumped onto Hiruzen's desk, bowed politely, and dropped the scroll front of the Sandaime before disappearing in a puff of smoke.

The Hokage grabbed the scroll, unfurled it, and began to read. As his eyes moved down the page, a frown creased his face. Once he finished reading, he took a long puff on his pipe. He enjoyed the familiar burn as the hot smoke filled his lungs. He held it in for a second or two, then released the grey cloud from his lips. The god of shinobi stared the chuunin in the eye, and the ninja subconsciously straightened up as he felt himself being analyzed.

"I will go see Momochi-san at the front gate. ANBU! Accompany me, but stay out of sight." The third Hokage stood and left his office at a brisk pace.

* * *

Zabuza panted, his breath coming out in ragged gasps as he sat down. He turned his head and saw the unconscious blonde next to him as well as Haku, who looked even more tired than he did. The boy was lying with his back on the ground. His chest rose and fell rapidly as he sucked in oxygen greedily.

They had been moving almost non-stop since leaving Wave. It had been a grueling three days, with their only break being the boat ride to the Land of Fire. After that, it had been a long journey through the forests of the Land of Fire to Konoha.

Once in proximity to Konohagakure, their presence must have set off some sort of alarm, and a border patrol had found them pretty quickly. Thankfully, the Konoha shinobi had decided to interrogate the intruders instead of killing them immediately. After explaining that he was trying to save the blonde brat, the group of chuunin had demanded that they come to the village.

Why the damn bastards couldn't have just taken the genin from them and then let them leave, he didn't know. It's like they thought he was dangerous or something. Zabuza allowed himself a grim smile at that thought and looked up to see the Hokage himself walking towards him. If the Demon of the Mist hadn't been so exhausted, he would've been impressed by the presence that the god of shinobi commanded even in his old age. As it was, Zabuza was too tired to give a shit.

Hiruzen walked over to the three travelers, and with a wave of his hand brought an ANBU to his side. "Cat, take young Naruto-kun to the hospital please. See to it that he gets immediate attention."

The man gave a quick salute, then did as he was ordered. Sarutobi watched them shunshin away before turning his head to look down upon the swordsman. "Well Momochi-san, I believe that I owe you my thanks."

Zabuza barked out a laugh. "You don't owe me anything, Hokage-san. I didn't help the brat because he was a shinobi of Konoha, I was merely repaying my debt."

Hiruzen nodded agreeably. "Indeed. However, whatever your intentions may have been, the fact remains that you did help a shinobi of Konoha. As such, I will have food and water brought to you out here, as well as some blankets and tents for you and your companion. I will also give you some information and advice, if you will accept it, Momochi-san."

The Demon of the Mist was surprised at this. Most would have given a meaningless thanks then would've demanded that he be out of the country by the end of the week. However, not only had the man who was considered to be the strongest of his generation treated him with some kindness and respect, he had also offered advice and information. Who was he to turn down generosity from the god of shinobi?

This time, Zabuza showed the proper respect. He inclined his head towards Hiruzen. "Thank you, Hokage-sama, for your kindness. I will gladly accept any aid offered from one such as yourself."

Sarutobi smiled at this. So the boy could show respect after all? He supposed that he preferred earning the respect of others rather than merely getting it from his reputation. "Very well then, Momochi-san. There have recently been some impressive developments in Kiri that are not common knowledge." The Hokage puffed on his pipe.

"A woman by the name of Mei Terumi has recently gathered all the rebel factions in Kiri under one banner and has made strides to overthrow the Yondaime Mizukage. I believe that you could bolster her efforts greatly, and rise to a position of great influence if you lent your assistance to the rebellion."

Zabuza hummed thoughtfully. He had heard of the woman, but when he had fled Kiri, she had been a small-time leader of a tiny force of freedom fighters. If she had succeeded in uniting the rebellion, an act in which he himself had failed, then perhaps the rumors of her power was true. Interesting.

Looking up, Zabuza met the Hokage's eyes. Though most would only see the tiredness of an old man in those eyes, the Demon of the Mist saw the fire in his gaze. There was a force of incredible power lurking behind the visage of a man who had been alive for too long.

"Thank you, Hokage-sama."

* * *

As soon as he got back to his office, Hiruzen Sarutobi began to compose a letter to Jiraiya, explaining the situation to the man. The Toad Sage was the only person that he knew could track down Tsunade and bring her back in time to help Naruto. Hopefully, both of his old students would come back to help the boy.

Most would question his decision to call Jiraiya away from his spy network to merely to help a genin, but Naruto Uzumaki was a valuable asset to the village. He was a prospective S-class shinobi and Hokage candidate. The boy had already shown himself to possess abnormal power, even if the end result put him in the hospital.

Also, while he did enjoy the titles of Sandaime, Hokage, Professor, and God of Shinobi, he had always preferred the name 'Jiji'.

* * *

Sakura felt tears well up in the corners of her eyes as she went through the Academy kata. She tried to be slow and calm, but she felt the anger, sorrow and self-loathing build up in her chest. Each strike was harder and faster than the last. With every misstep and every stumble, she grit her teeth in annoyance.

If Naruto were here, he would be teasing her about how emotional she was being. Then, he would calmly help fix her mistakes. How the excitable, knuckleheaded blonde could be so patient, she never knew. And now, she may never know. He could die, and it would all be her fault.

She had thought that being a ninja would be easy. The Academy hadn't been hard, and she'd always been smart. Her life as a shinobi would be one big adventure, and in the end, Sasuke-kun would sweep her off her feet and declare his undying love for her. As if.

Instead, she had found herself in the nightmarish situation of being totally unprepared and put up against rogue ninjas who were so much better than her that it was frightening. How could she have thought that she was ready? She had thought that two weeks of training with Naruto and Sasuke had made her strong. Instead, it had just barely been enough to keep her alive.

She had been so completely useless! Standing in front of Tazuna, a man whom she was barely stronger than, knowing that if one of her teammates fell that there would be nothing she could do. And that she would be next.

And so, she trained. She worked herself into exhaustion every day, hoping that the pain of sore muscles would distract her from her own failings.

"Sakura."

The pink haired kunoichi turned and saw Sasuke walking towards her. She could tell that there was something wrong with him. Usually, the boy had a face of cool disinterest or harsh disdain. A look that she had found incredibly attractive. She thought that he looked 'cool' and 'mysterious'. Now though, his face was blank. Completely and utterly blank.

"What is it, Sasuke?" If the Uchiha noticed the lack of the affectionate honorific at the end of his name, he didn't show it. The boy looked at the wooden pole that Sakura had been using as a sparring dummy and saw the dents and cracks in the wood.

"Before our… mission, Naruto talked to me about your training. He said that he had noticed something… strange… about your punches."

Sakura tilted her head at the dark haired youth, uncomprehending. "What's weird about my punches? Is my form off or something?"

The clan heir shook his head. "No. He said that when you get angry, your punches tend to become a lot more destructive. He believed that, due to your incredible chakra control, you could focus a large portion of your chakra into a single point on your fist and unleash it all at once. Most people can't gather chakra into a single point with any effectiveness; for most people, chakra-powered punches usually have their whole arm covered in chakra."

Sakura frowned at this. "A single point…" The girl looked down at her clenched fist as if she had never truly seen it before.

"It was just a theory of his; he said that he wanted to test it when he got back, but…" His voice trailed off into an awkward silence. Then, the boy rummaged in one of his pouches and withdrew a scroll. "He also wanted to give you this. It's supposedly an Uzumaki-style taijutsu that focuses mainly on punches. It's called 'The Whirling Fist'."

He tossed the scroll to Sakura, and she deftly caught it. For the first time since she'd gotten back to Konoha, a smile spread across her face.

"Thanks, Sasuke."

* * *

Sasuke lay on the new couch in Kotomi's apartment, staring up at the plain white ceiling. Naruto had gotten the couch with all the money they'd earned on D-ranks, and had used it to replace several of the chairs in the dining room. He hadn't stopped bragging about how comfy it was for days until Sakura had finally hit him over the head with enough force to put down a small hippo. Of course, the blonde had been fine in about five seconds.

The couch really was comfy.

As the Uchiha looked off into space, he began to analyze the different emotions that he was feeling. After Itachi's betrayal, he had only felt anger and hatred, interspersed occasionally with the satisfaction of learning a new technique. But after Naruto came back…

He had started smiling again. He had felt… not peace, but… joy. A simple thing really, but so underappreciated. The joy in having company for meals. The joy of meaningless conversation. The joy of training with another person.

Of course, he hadn't wanted to let the blonde in. Quite the opposite, in fact. The only interest he had had in Naruto Namikaze was as a rival. A way to measure his strength. But, before he realized it, the dobe had wormed his way into Sasuke's life. He always seemed to know how Sasuke felt. What he was thinking. It had annoyed him to no end. But now? He missed it.

And after introducing him to Kotomi, it felt kind of like having a family again. Sort of. In fact, he had grown rather fond of the girl, though he'd never admit it. Secretly though, he vowed to himself that he'd never hurt her the way Itachi had hurt him. In every possible way, he would be better than his brother.

To think that he was worried about the damned dobe. That idiot had gone and used something that would quite possibly kill him. And it was all Sasuke's fault. Maybe if he had trained harder. Or if he had come up with some sort of plan. His fire jutsu should have easily broken through the ice, but he simply wasn't strong enough.

If he couldn't defeat an opponent like that, how could he ever hope to kill Itachi? And yet, even as these thoughts swirled through his brain, he found that he couldn't focus on the revenge that had kept him grounded for so long. His mind flitted from thought to thought, like a bird in a storm seeking shelter. And every time, it would come back to concern for Naruto.

Sasuke's finely tuned shinobi senses picked up the sound of quiet sobs in the room next to him. His dark eyes softened, and he got up from the couch. He walked over to Kotomi's room, making sure to make enough noise so that she wouldn't be frightened when he came in. Stepping through the open doorway, Sasuke approached the girl's bed. He sat down next to her, and slowly wrapped the sobbing girl up in his arms. "Shh, Kotomi-chan. It's okay. He'll be fine. It's okay." Sasuke gently rocked the red head back to sleep, repeating his mantra of 'he'll be okay'.

Damn that dobe.

* * *

In Tanzaku Town, Tsunade Senju sat at the bar, intent on getting wasted. As she downed another mouthful of sake, her desires were cut short by the arrival of a man with long, messy white hair. He waved away the bartender who was coming over with another bottle. With a frown, the bartender turned away, put out by not making more money off of the alcoholic.

"Hey, hime. Long time no see."

Tsunade scowled at the man who was interrupting the fine art of getting drunk. "What do you want this time, Jiraiya? If you hit on me again, I swear I'll punch you through a wall."

Her old teammate merely chuckled at her. "I wish I had time for such pleasantries. A few days ago, I got a message from sensei. He's lucky. usually, it takes weeks to contact me. Fortunately, I was actually with my contact when he received a messenger hawk from Hiruzen."

Tsunade scoffed. "Why would I care about what messages you get? I left Konoha, and you and I both know that I ain't going back. So I'll ask one last time. What. Do. You. Want?"

The legendary Toad Sage looked down at his hands that were folded on the table. "Naruto Namikaze is currently in danger of death unless he receives urgent care by the end of the week. Currently, the head of Konoha's hospital gives him a fifty percent chance of making it."

"What?" Exclaimed Tsunade. "I thought that Naruto was dead!"

"Apparently, the boy was taken in by a group of summons, and went to train with them for four years. He came back to Konoha recently, and was registered as a genin."

A gnawing guilt wormed its way into her stomach. "What happened? How'd he get injured so badly?"

At this, Jiraiya let out a grim chuckle. "Supposedly, the boy used an unknown kinjutsu that allowed him to save his teammate. He also saved the lives of two rogue shinobi who they would have had to kill if Naruto hadn't convinced them that the man they were working for was going to betray them. He then took out their boss and about two hundred mercenaries with a single fire jutsu."

Tsunade gasped. "Really? To be capable of using a fire jutsu with that kind of range and having it be lethal to everyone hit at such a young age… it's impossible!"

Another chuckle. "My thoughts exactly. But there were several witnesses, including his sensei and teammates. And the boss he killed? His name was Gato."

The slug sannin's eyes bulged. "Gato? As in-"

"Yep. The Gato. The rich bastard that owns, or used to own the biggest shipping business in the elemental nations and the man who ran a quarter of the black market."

Putting her head in her hands, Tsunade moaned. "He's turning out to be just like his mother. Impulsive and stupid."

"Yeah. Kushina always was the more impulsive of the pair, but the whole convincing his enemies to be his friends sounds like something Minato would do." Jiraiya looked over at the woman next to him. "So? Will you come back to help Naruto?"

Tsunade bit her lip. She knew that if she went back, Sarutobi and the council would try and convince her to stay. Shizune would too, probably. But she couldn't help but recall the short amount of time she'd spent with the blonde brat.

Back during the end of her sensei's time as Hokage, she had told him that she would leave, and would never come back. He had tried and tried to convince her, but eventually, he realized that it was inevitable. So, he had asked her to stay at least until the next Hokage was selected.

It was during this time of stasis that a three-year-old blonde had snuck into the Senju compound to hide from several shinobi. Apparently, the boy had set up water balloon traps all over the village and was trying to hide. That was the start of a beautiful friendship. Almost every day, the brat would come over and have tea with her while telling her about his day and his latest prank.

Tsunade always found it amusing when she teased him for being short, and he would pout and puff out his cheeks. It took his mother weeks to figure out where the boy had been disappearing to. When she had finally come to the Senju residence, she had found her son being held upset down by a very angry woman who had been called 'old'.

However, as happy as Naruto made her, the boy couldn't help but remind the legendary medic of her own brother. And so, after Minato was elected Hokage, she had left Konoha like she said she would. Not long after, she heard the report of the Kyuubi attack and of the Yondaime's and Kushina's death.

Once again, Tsunade found herself haunted by the dead. She should have been there to defend Konoha. She should've gone back to take care of Naruto and his newborn sister. But she hadn't. She'd been too much of a coward then and had to live with that for years. Now though, she had a chance to make things right.

Tsunade looked up at her old teammate and friend.

"I'll come back."

* * *

 **AN: Just a note on Naruto's age when he met Tsunade. While most three-year-olds wouldn't be able to pull pranks, the fact is that this isn't a normal world. Kakashi was able to become a legal member of Konoha's military at the age of 5, and was probably in the Academy at the age of 4. So, I don't think that it's unbelievable for Naruto, who was exposed to powerful shinobi at a young age, to be able to tie up a couple of water balloons and make traps with them.**

 **Thanks for reading! In the wise words of Gary Oak,"Smell ya later!"**


	5. Wounds of the Past

**AN: Sorry it's late, this was a hard chapter to write. But more on that in the end. In this chapter, we get to look at Naruto's past, and find out what he did in his battle against Haku and Zabuza. Enjoy!**

* * *

 **Chapter 5: Wounds of the Past**

Tsunade sat backwards with a sigh, her eyes never leaving the pale visage of her patient. It had been years since she'd had to work this hard to ensure someone's recovery. Naruto's ailment had been one of the strangest she had ever seen as a medical nin. It had taken her and Shizune hours of healing and she doubted that they were finished.

It seemed that the boy's chakra system would start to fail rapidly. She and Shizune had taken shifts to rush forwards and stop sections of his system from being irreparably damaged. The difficult part was that, as soon as they fixed one section, another would begin to fail. And so they'd go from part to part, fixing as much as they could for half-an-hour before the effects would subside. Then, after a short break, the failings would start again.

In all fairness, Tsunade knew that the boy probably would have survived without them. He was an Uzumaki after all, and they were well known for their legendary vitality. The boy even had an impressive healing rate, though it would never match the regenerative capabilities that Tsunade remembered the past Kyuubi Jinchuuriki having. However, she doubted that Naruto would have been able to use chakra again if not for the advanced treatment he had received.

Slowly, the boy's eyes began to move around frantically behind his eyelids. His body began to spasm, and he rocked from left to right. Concerned, Tsunade quickly rose from her seat and placed a hand that was coated in soft, green chakra on his chest. The sannin felt an intense heat coming from the blonde brat, and moved her hand up to his forehead. The boy was burning with an intense fever.

'What the…' Tsunade thought before quickly barking out orders to the nurse who had walked into the room. "Bring in a metal tub and fill it with ice water! Now!" The young woman jerked as if she'd been slapped, then quickly rushed out of the room, intent on following the legendary kunoichi's orders.

* * *

 _Flashback_

 _Naruto sighed as he looked out on the city that he had been living in for the past two months. The dragon's had thrown him into this place with special seals that stopped him from using any jutsu. He could still empower himself with chakra, but he couldn't use it to do anything else._

 _The first month had been difficult. He had no money, no food, and no family. Anything he wanted, he would have to get for himself. He had no one to rely on. It had been… a hard adjustment. Thankfully, due to his illustrious pranking career and shinobi training, he had learned to pick pockets and cut purses fairly quickly. Soon after, he had learned to spot targets and read a crowd. It had been necessary for his survival._

 _Those were not his first lesson, however. No, his first lesson was that the guards hated homeless orphans. On his first day observing the city, he had seen the guards beat several orphans who had been trying to steal from a sleazy merchant. On the next, he had seen a young boy have his jaw broken for accidentally bumping into one of the guards. On the third, he had seen two boys ruthlessly killed for attempting to break into a weapons shop._

 _Trying to intervene only brought pain. They were older, stronger, and more experienced than he was. Every time he helped out another orphan, he came away with bruises, concussions, and broken bones. Thankfully, he'd managed to avoid any injury that would put him out of action for an extended period, but it was only a matter of time if he kept on 'helping'._

 _The guards were strange. They called themselves the 'Stone Police' and appeared to be shinobi. After doing some asking around, Naruto learned that the 'Stone Police' were actually criminals from Iwa (one of the more famous ninja villages) who were sent here to do community service. Every single one appeared to be corrupt, heartless, and cruel._

 _It was clear that the more wealthy merchants paid the police to 'interfere' with their competition. The police would also demand protection money from the shop owners who were low-class. More often than not, the guards would spend their hard-earned coin in the red-light district on booze and whores. Naruto quickly grew to hate the city._

 _It was the beating of a young girl that had set him off. He had been on one of the many rooftops where he would store his few possessions when he heard her crying. He looked down into the alleyway below him to see that the girl had run into a dead end, and two members of the guards were slowly approaching her. A third appeared at the mouth of the alley._

 _Naruto felt his stomach boil with rage. He knew that if he interfered, he would be thrashed. As skilled as he was for his age, he couldn't go up against three trained shinobi without any weapons or jutsu. So he waited, praying that the girl wouldn't be hurt too badly. His prayers weren't answered._

 _The sound of wood striking flesh and the cries of pain pierced Naruto's ears like poisoned needles. He shut his eyes, hoping that they would stop. And they did. Opening his eyes, he saw that the young girl was leaning against the back wall, shaking. Silent tears ran down her face as one of the men slowly reached out and began to cut away her shirt with a kunai…_

 _Something in Naruto snapped, breaking away to reveal something inhuman. Cold rage flooded into him. There was no red-hot fire. No anger. Just an ice-cold focus that made every fiber of his being wish for the death of those men._

 _Before he realized what he was doing, Naruto's hand had picked up a loose brick from the building's roof. He jumped down silently, suppressing his chakra. The man was too focused on his prey to realize the imminent threat that approached him. Brick met skull, and the man passed into the afterlife without even seeing his attacker's face._

 _Naruto didn't spare the dead man a second glance. His painfully bright, blue eyes turned to the second man. He lashed out with his brick, and the shinobi, still stunned by the turn of events, hastily held up a kunai to parry the blow. The weapon was ripped from the guard's hands, and Naruto drew back for a second blow._

 _Before the brick could connect with the man's jaw, Naruto's wrist was caught by two of the shinobi's hands. With a vicious twist, the man broke the blonde's arm. Naruto howled in pain, but instead of collapsing, he leapt up and bit into the shinobi's neck. With a ruthless tear, Naruto ripped out the man's throat. Crimson blood sprayed him in the face as he slowly watched the panic in the man's eyes._

 _Releasing Naruto's wrist, the guard brought both hands up to stop the bleeding. It didn't help. The young blonde turned to the mouth of the alleyway, looking for the third guard, but saw nothing. Naruto moved back towards the girl who was staring at him, open-mouthed as tears continued to fall down her cheeks._

 _Crouching down slightly to look the girl in the eye, the blonde introduced himself. "Hello, my name's Naruto. What's yours?"_

 _The girl's mouth open and closed for a couple of seconds before an incredulous laugh mixed with a sob came from her throat. "M-my name i-is M-miyo."_

" _Nice to meet you Miyo-chan! Umm, do you know where I can wash up and maybe get some spare clothes?"_

 _And that's how Naruto met the secret group of orphans in what he would learn was called the City of Omoide._

* * *

Present

Tsunade tore away the blankets covering the blonde. The boy was thrashing around wildly now. She placed one hand on his chest, stopping him from rolling off the bed, and placed the other on his head. Using as much chakra as she could, she began attempting to push back the fever. The soothing green chakra clashed violently with the heat within Naruto's body.

Two men hurried into the room, carrying a large metal tub. Behind them, the nurse and Shizune bustled into the room. Tsunade's apprentice quickly rushed over to her side as the men ran out of the room. "Tsunade-sama, what's happening?" Shizune asked.

The legendary sannin grit her teeth as she focused on fighting the fire that was spreading throughout her patient's body. "Naruto has a fever. It's bad. He needs to be cooled down." Letting her training kick in, Shizune nodded and immediately placed her own hands on the blonde's head, allowing her chakra to aid Tsunade's in pushing back the fever.

Another man ran into the room, followed by the pair who had brought in the tub. The man, who appeared to be a chuunin judging by the vest he wore, formed a series of hand seals and shot water out of his mouth to fill the tub. The other two brought over buckets of ice and dumped them into the tub as well.

Seeing this, Tsunade took her hands off the boy and began to take off the hospital gown that Naruto was wearing. As she pulled it off, she noticed the series of scars across his body. Most were the silvery white of thin cuts, but there were a couple of angry red gouges that looked to be caused by claws. There was even a bite mark or two.

As Naruto violently twisted his body around, Tsunade caught site of a strange discoloration on his back. Turning him on his side to see what it was, the woman gasped. Across the boy's back was a large, crimson scar that was clearly the result of a burn. It spread from near the top of his left shoulder down to the small of his back. The blemish was pink at the edges, but darkened in color the closer it got to the bottom. It looked like a tongue of flame.

* * *

 _Flashback_

 _They were in one of their many hideouts when it happened. Several dozen orphans were gathered in the abandoned warehouse; talking, gambling, and sleeping. Someone must have been careless, and let themselves be tracked back here. Naruto felt the chakra rushing towards the building. Running to one of the boarded up windows, he looked out through a gap in the wood and saw several of the guards using fire jutsus on the building. 'Shit' he thought._

" _Everyone! Get out of the building!" As the flames rose up and began to consume the wooden floor greedily, Naruto grabbed Miyo. He leaped up and off of a wall to land on one of the ceiling beams. Looking up at the roof, he found what he was looking for. He laid Miyo down behind him gently, then began to tear at a small gap in the ceiling with his hands._

 _Eventually, he managed to create a hole big enough for them to fit through. He grabbed the small girl once again and shoved her up through the gap, pulling himself up after her. As he stood on the roof, he looked around, and what he saw dismayed him. The fires were eating up the insides of the building, and Naruto knew that it would soon collapse. There were no other buildings near enough for him to leap onto._

 _With Miyo in his arms, the blonde ran to the edge of the roof and jumped. He landed in a crouch, and tried to run down the street when he heard a voice that sent a shiver down his spine. He knew what was coming. "_ _Katon: Crimson Fireball_ _"_

 _Naruto threw Miyo away from him as he dove for the ground. A gout of red flames burned across his back, lighting his shirt on fire. Naruto screamed as he felt pain sear into his flesh. Darkness encroached upon the edge of his vision, but he forced himself to focus. "Miyo! Run!" The girl hesitated for only a moment, before turning around. She didn't even make it three steps before a kunai lodged itself in the back of her neck._

 _Naruto's instincts screamed at him, and even though his back screamed in protest, he rolled to his right, extinguishing his flaming shirt. Three shuriken sparked across the bricks on which he had been laying half a moment before. Though his whole body screamed in protest, the boy forced himself to his feet. He looked at Miyo's still form, and knew that she was dead._

 _He turned around and ran at one of the building near to him as his body begged him to stop. He ignored his discomfort and used the chakra control exercise that Kakashi had taught him a lifetime ago to run up the building and onto the roof. There was only one thought on his mind._

' _Survive.'_

* * *

Present

Tsunade shook her head. The scar wasn't important right now. As gently as she could, the kunoichi picked up Naruto and brought him over to the tub. With as much care as she could manage, she lowered the young genin into the tub of ice water. The boy's struggling increased for a moment as his body came into contact with the cold liquid, but relaxed after he was submerged. Tsunade ran her fingers through her blonde hair. This brat was going to give her a heart attack if he kept this up.

* * *

 _Flashback_

 _Naruto felt all the air leave his lungs as the massive tail collided with his chest, and he was flung backwards into the lake. He came up to the surface after a moment of struggling, and shakily used his chakra to pull himself onto the surface of the water._

" _Damn you, Midori-sensei! Did you have to hit me so hard?" The green dragon merely laughed at his soaked pupil. Muttering curses under his breath, the blonde walked back towards the edge of the lake and sat beside his draconian friend._

 _The pair looked up into the blue sky, each lost in their own thoughts. Naruto was glad for the break from 'endurance training' as Midori called it. Running away from the dragon was not what he would call 'training'. More like torture. Eventually, the blonde broke the silence._

" _Hey, Midori, why did the elders make me live in that city?"_

 _The green eyes of the dragon stared deeply into the cerulean gaze of his student. "To teach you to survive the shinobi world with honor."_

" _Honor?"_

 _The dragon nodded. "Yes. Honor. Many shinobi are similar to dragons in that regard, such as your Hokage. You see, one must do many things to survive. They must suffer, steal, and even kill in order to preserve their own life. But, for dragons, we do so with honor. Though we may kill, we never kill the injured or sick. We take no pleasure in torture nor cruelty. We respect the pride of others, and do not belittle them. Though we may mock the weak, we do not inflict physical pain merely for the sake of entertainment, and we protect those dear to us. Many of us cannot stand injustice, and will do what we can to stop it. Do you understand?"_

 _Naruto slowly nodded. "So, you wanted to see if I could survive without turning into a terrible person?"_

 _Midori laughed. "I suppose so, though your description lacks eloquence."_

 _The boy huffed and crossed his arms, before a sad expression settled on his face. He understood why. He even understood the need for the seals. But he wished that he had never agreed. He wished that he had never let them use his blood for the seals, for that was the only way to make them stick for the required time._

 _A large green wing brought Naruto closer to the dragon. "I know that what you saw and what you had to do in that city were hard, Naruto-kun. But remember, this world is hard. There are monsters here, and I do not mean dragons. There is great evil. There is darkness that wishes to drown the world in blood. You must not be afraid of it. Instead, you must walk forward into the abyss with you head held high and a noble heart. Then, the monsters shall be afraid of you."_

* * *

Present

Naruto looked around blearily to see where he was. Judging by the white walls and gown he was in, he assumed that he was in Konoha's hospital. Looking to his left, he saw familiar looking woman. It took him a couple of minutes to recognize her. "Baa-chan!" He tried to shout, but instead it came out as a croak. Nevertheless, the woman stirred in her seat.

Hazel eyes met blue, and then a scowl spread across Tsunade's face. "You damn brat! Do you have any idea about how worried I've been! What the hell did you do to yourself?"

Naruto merely chuckled hoarsely. "I always knew you cared."

The kunoichi's expression softened. "Of course I do, baka. Let me get you a glass of water. Then, I'll go get the Old Man and Jiraiya so you can tell us how the hell you managed to put yourself in the hospital."

When Sasuke and Sakura followed their sensei into the hospital room, they were expecting to find their exuberant blonde teammate. What they did not expect was the presence of three of Konoha's strongest shinobi; Jiraiya and Tsunade of the legendary sannin and the Hokage himself. Quite unsure as to how they should approach the situation the two hung back slightly as Kakashi took a seat on the windowsill.

"I suppose we're all here then?" Kakashi nodded. "Okay then, I'll wake him up." And with that, Tsunade stood up and placed a hand on Naruto's head. There was a surge of chakra, then the blonde genin bolted upright, his right hand reaching out to grab a non-existent weapon. It took him a couple of confused seconds to realize where he was, but when he saw his teammates, his face broke into a brilliant smile.

"Sasuke! Sakura! I'm alive!" The pair stared at their friend incredulously and the Hokage chuckled.

"You are indeed alive, Naruto-kun." Hiruzen took a long pull on his pipe, then released a cloud of smoke into the room. Tsunade's eye twitched, but the Hokage paid the medic little mind. "Now before we engage in any more pleasantries, I believe that there are some questions that must be answered. First off, what kinjutsu did you use to put yourself in such a state? And second, why did you use it?"

Naruto sighed as he looked at his audience. "Fine. Let me get comfortable first." The boy spent some time fluffing up his pillows before leaning back.

"To start with, what I used wasn't a kinjutsu. In fact, it wasn't a jutsu at all. I ingested dragon's blood, and that is what allowed me to do what I did."

Sarutobi interrupted him. "But what did it do? How did you become strong enough to perform a fire jutsu of such power?"

The blonde shinobi gave the Hokage a sour look. "I'm getting there, Jiji. No more interruptions. For most people, there are two aspects to their chakra: mind and body. However, there is a third aspect that is external, nature. If you know what to look for, you can take nature chakra into your body for a short period of time through meditation."

Jiraiya nodded at this. "You're talking about Sage Mode. Wait, you're a sage?" The white haired man looked both shocked and impressed.

Naruto glared at him. The other people in the room were surprised at the cheerful blonde's animosity, and Jiraiya himself flinched back at the look. "No, I'm not a sage. Not yet at least. Dragon's blood is a special substance because it allows your body to naturally absorb nature chakra for a limited period of time. However, as you can see, the results are quite painful, especially if you're not used to nature chakra."

"So you were able to enter a state similar to what Jiraiya can do, but only for a short period of time, and it harms you to do so." The Hokage summarized.

"Yep."

Hiruzen sighed. "Well then, I'm afraid that you are not to use this technique again unless you receive permission from a superior. Understood?"

Naruto laughed. "Don't worry, Jiji. I couldn't even if I wanted to. If I tried it again, I'd probably die. It'll take a couple of years before I can use dragon blood again."

"Good. Cause if you make me worry like that again, I'll find a way to resurrect you again so that I can kill you myself," Tsunade said with a small smile on her face.

The blonde genin barked out a laugh. "You sound just like the dragon elder that gave me the vial, Baa-chan."

The Hokage just shook his head. "Well, considering the obstacles your team faced, the mission will be bumped up to A-rank. The shinobi council wanted to brief you themselves on your technique, but I'll do my best to dissuade them as it wasn't a jutsu. Theoretically, could dragon blood be used by other shinobi?"

"No. Only a dragon summoner can utilize the technique. The thing is, when you sign a summoning contract, your entire chakra signature changes to be compatible with your summons."

Jiraiya nodded. "That's why many summoners gain traits of their summons, like Orochimaru's snakiness or my own increased strength."

"Very well then. I wish you a speedy recovery Naruto." The Sandaime stood and left, followed by Kakashi who ruffled his students' heads before leaving.

"Don't even think about trying to escape, brat. It'll take at least three days before you're cleared to leave. Got it?"

Naruto nodded hastily, and the terrifying medic nin followed the others out. The only people remaining were the rest of team 7 and the toad sage, who looked rather anxious. The blonde looked up at the man, then sighed.

"Why weren't you taking care of Kotomi?" The genin crossed his arms and waited for an answer.

Jiraiya looked down at his hands. "I had to keep up with my spy network. After the Kyuubi attack, it was important to make sure that none of the other nations were planning an invasion. Also, I was promised that Hiruzen would look after her."

Naruto frowned and closed his eyes, mulling over the answer. After a minute or so, he let out his breath. "Fine. You're her godfather, but you're also an important shinobi of Konoha. But still, you couldn't have stopped by once? Didn't you have to give reports?"

A guilty look fell over the toad sage's face. "Yeah, you're right. I should've checked in with her, but I'm only human. I didn't even want to enter the village knowing that Minato was dead. I'm sorry."

The genin shook his head. "Don't apologize to me. Apologize to Kotomi. One week. You're gonna spend one week doing whatever she wants. Ramen, shopping, training. Got it?"

Jiraiya grinned. "I can do that!"

Naruto gave the man a stern look. "And no 'research', erosennin."

The legendary sannin looked devastated. "But…" He began, but stopped when he saw the malicious glint in the boy's eyes. "Fine." He pouted.

"Okay then. One more question. I know that you and Jiji's wife were my sister's godparents, but who were mine? I don't remember officially having any."

Jiraiya thought for a moment. "Well, I believe that it was Fugaku and Mikoto Uchiha, but I don't think that they ever referred to them as such."

Naruto and Sasuke looked at each other in surprise.

"Well, if that's all kid, I'm off!" The man opened the window and jumped out.

Sasuke and Sakura moved over to sit next to Naruto's bed. "Dobe, I don't think that Kotomi's godfather is the only one who owes her an apology."

The blonde grimaced. "Yeah. When you leave, can you send her over?"

The Uchiha nodded, and the genin of team 7 spent the next hour chatting about the mission, training, and their day to day lives. All was well.

* * *

Yuhi Kurenai, jounin leader of team 8, sat at her favorite dango shop. She usually wouldn't come here without her friend, but after her team's first C-rank, she figured that she deserved a treat. As she ate the sweets, she spotted the Uchiha kid walking towards her with a slight blush on his face.

Kurenai froze. 'Oh no,' she thought. 'He's gonna ask me out! What do I do? If Anko finds out that I got asked out by a genin in public, I'll never live it down!' She began to look around for escape routes, but it was too late. The boy stood in front of her, staring down at his shuffling feet.

Unconsciously, Kurenai cocked back her clenched fist, ready to punch the kid if he embarrassed her. The blush crept further up Sasuke's face before he gathered his nerves and looked up. "You're Yuhi Kurenai, a genjutsu specialist, right?"

"Yes," she responded tersely.

The Uchiha took a deep breath. "Will you train me?"

Kurenai relaxed, visibly relieved. "Don't you have a jounin sensei already?"

He nodded. "Kakashi Hatake. And I'll ask him to help me too, but you're the best in Konoha at genjutsu, and I want to learn."

The raven haired woman hummed thoughtfully. "Well, I'm already training my team, but they have the week off. I suppose that I can give you some pointers and exercises to work on. Does that work?"

* * *

Naruto growled in frustration as his footing slipped once again during his kata. The advanced forms for 'The Dragon of the West' were incredibly difficult. While the basics focused on mere deflection and counterattacks, the advanced forms were based on actually grabbing and pulling the opponent's limbs to get them off balance.

Naruto decided that he'd need a partner to effectively work on his new kata, and because he couldn't find Sasuke, gave it up as a lost cause. Standing up straight, he decided to test out his new strength instead.

He'd originally thought that after being hospitalized for two weeks, his body would be weakened. Thankfully, that didn't appear to be the case. Apparently, not all of the side-effects of dragon blood were negative. His strength and speed had gone up slightly, and his already impressive senses had also improved. And, when he looked in the mirror, he'd noticed that his pupils were more oblong than they had been.

Naruto walked up to one of the training posts and began throwing punches in quick succession. He level changed, ducking under an imaginary blow, and came up with a strong hook. The bark shattered under his fist and several splinters pierced his knuckles. The blonde swore and shook his hand. 'Guess I should buy myself some gloves.'

He grinned, and as he went back to training, his thoughts turned to the upcoming chuunin exams that Kakashi had told him about.

* * *

 **AN: I gotta admit, I'm not super happy with how this turned out. I liked the flashbacks and Tsunade's attempts to help Naruto, but after that it was hard to switch over to pure dialogue with not much progression. Oh well. The next chapter will introduce Danzo and will start the training for the chuunin exams. I always found it weird that there wasn't a training arc before the exams. It won't be to boring, and it will mostly focus on who's training who. See you later!**


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